the Master Sword Issue
by rarmaster
Summary: Link is just a young boy, destined to save Hyrule. But what happens when he can't use the Master Sword, let alone get near it? Well I guess we're about to find out.
1. Prologue and Chapter 1

Author's note: well, this story takes place a while after Twilight Princess, long enough for the Link from TP to be at least a great-grandpa and long dead. I'll admit now, the basic idea of this might be kind of stupid. Basically the Link in this story can remember everything that's happened to any other Link in the past. Link's mother (who is actually alive for most of this story, I'm breaking new ground!! I think…) fears for her son's life, and takes him to the Queen who locks those memories in the depths of his subconscious at a large cost. He is now destined to save Hyrule, and can't use the Master Sword to do so. (This is actually covered in the prologue, but I thought it was actually kind of unclear.) This entire story is basically about Sheik and Zelda (two different people by the way) trying to help Link find something to replace the Master Sword so he can defeat whatever evil might come to Hyrule.

-Prologue-

Deep in Kakariko, a young Hylian mother was woken up by crying. She went into her son's room. He was still asleep.

"Nightmares," the mother whispered, picking up the baby to comfort it. As soon as the baby was in her arms she was taken aback by a rush of images that flooded her mind.

_A shining green stone, then a face of a beautiful young girl, a hooded figure, followed by a musical instrument, the sound of music, then the clashing of swords, a sword sitting in a stone, forests rushing by, a laughing face._ She couldn't keep track of anymore, but they did eventually stop.

"Oh no," she gasped, putting the baby down and running to find a cloak. She found one, put it on, and then picked the baby up again. She left the house, and darted through the village. All she could hear over the rain was her footsteps and terrible laughter.

"It's too soon" she whispered to herself "too soon." She ran through the field, unable to shake the feeling she was being followed. Evil was settling in Hyrule, and that Evil wanted her son.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the castle.

"Finally" she muttered, dashing up the front steps. She navigated her way to the throne room, and ran in. She sunk to one knee upon reaching the throne, where a figure stared out the window.

"My Queen" she gasped, cradling her son to her.

"Alice," the figure said, not turning around "what brings you here at this late hour?"

"Please, my Queen, forgive me. But my son, he's having nightmares, filled with memories not his own."

"What is his name?" the Queen asked

"Link…" the mother said, and lightning flashed again, illuminating the whole room and the Queen as she turned around.

"Memories not his own?" she asked, urgency in her voice.

The mother nodded, gasping deeply from her run.

The Queen bent down next to the mother and her son. "Can I see him?" she asked. The mother nodded and handed over her son to the Queen. The Queen had a blank look on her face for a minute before getting even more worried. "This is serious" she said, standing up.

"Can you help him?" the mother asked, standing up herself.

"Yes, I can" The Queen said and handed over the child to his mother. She placed two fingers on the young boy's forehead and spoke softly "Young Link" she whispered "you're mind has been contaminated by the memories of your ancestors. It is not your fault, nor theirs. So now young child, I will lock away these memories behind you in the back of your mind where they will sleep until your death." There was a small flash of light, and the child stopped his fussing.

The mother looked up at the Queen, who had a grave expression on her face.

"There is a problem to this though" the Queen said "Link will have to protect Hyrule from unspeakable evil when he is older, and it will be nearly impossible to do without the Master Sword. But the Master Sword will banish the magic I used to keep these memories back if he pulls it from its resting place. He must not do this, but that leaves him with the task of finding another way to destroy this Evil."

"Is it possible?" the mother asked

"Possible? Yes, it is possible. But easy? No, it will not be easy."

The Queen turned away "I will tell my daughter all of this when she is older so she can make sure that he doesn't do it. She can help him find a way to destroy this evil."

The mother said nothing.

"Alice" the Queen said "it is time for you to go."

The mother nodded, and headed back to her house.

-Chapter 1-

"Yah!!" the young Sheikah boy said as he threw a dagger at a nearby tree.

"Sheik…" his trainer said in disappointment "you're not trying hard enough. You've missed the mark again."

Sheik looked at the tree, noting that he had only missed the mark by a less than a centimeter. "But,"

"No buts"

"I am sorry master Hiru" Sheik said

"Try it again"

Sheik pulled out another dagger, and was ready to throw it when-

"Sheik!!"

Sheik turned his head in the direction his name had come from and when he saw who had said it he fell to a knee.

"Princess…" he said

"Ah come on Sheik!" the princess laughed "enough with the formalities! Come on, I have something to tell you!!" she ran off, Sheik following after her.

"Zelda" he said "what is it?"

"I'll tell you in a minute!" Zelda called as she ran deeper into the woods "come on"

Sheik rolled his eyes and ran after the princess, though at a slightly slower pace. He finally caught up to her at a pond in the middle of the woods, where she was skipping stones. Sheik picked up a smooth stone and tossed it across the pond. It skipped all the way across to the other side.

"Impressive!" Zelda laughed.

"What did you want to tell me?" Sheik asked

Zelda stopped mid-toss, and the stone she was going to throw went _plop!_ in the water. "About that…" she said, sitting down.

"What?" Sheik said, starting to worry

"My mother has, well, given me a, uh,"

"A what?" Sheik urged

"A task" Zelda said finally

"A task?" Sheik asked, starting to wonder why the princess was worrying about it so much "what do you have to do?"

"Well, apparently" Zelda said "somewhere in Kakariko there's a boy named Link. And apparently he'll have to fight evil when he's older. My mom told me that I would need to, help him in his quest."

"What's the problem with that? All he'll need is a little training and the Master Sword" Sheik said, but Zelda just seemed to get more uncomfortable.

"What?" Sheik asked

"Well, that's the problem. He can't get the Master Sword"

"What?!" Sheik dropped the stone he was holding "How can he _not_ be able to get the Master Sword?"

"Apparently, when he was little, he was, as my mother said, 'plagued with nightmares filled with memories not his own'. She had to lock away these memories in the back of his mind, so he wouldn't be damaged by them. But they would be released even if he were to lay a hand on the Master Sword."

"That's…." Sheik began, but stopped for he was at a loss for words.

"I know" Zelda said "My mother told me that I would have to help him find something that will defeat evil that isn't the Master Sword"

"Why are you telling me this?" Sheik asked finally after a moment of silence.

"I don't know" Zelda said "I just kind of figured that maybe Link would respond better to a boy about his age instead of a girl that's a few years younger than him."

"So you want my help, don't you?" Sheik asked. Zelda nodded.

"It would be nice" she said.

"Alright, I'll go find him. Do you need help getting back to the Castle?"

Zelda shook her head "I should be fine."

Sheik nodded and headed off "Bye, princess"

"Bye Sheik!"

* * *

A young Hylian boy walked around in Kakariko, trying to decide what to buy with his recently acquired twenty rupees. He knew that there was little he could buy with just twenty rupees, but was willing to try.

Though the farther he went through the village the more he felt like he was being watched. Every shadow seemed to have something hidden in it.

"Odd…" he said, shaking the feeling away. He ran into a nearby shop, where he was planning on buying a slingshot. "Sweet!" he said, seeing the price tag on the slingshot "It is twenty rupees!!"

"Hi Link!" the shopkeeper said "what can I do for you today?"

"Can I have the slingshot?" the boy asked

"You sure can!" the shopkeeper handed him the slingshot, and Link gave the shopkeeper twenty rupees.

Link did a little dance in his excitement. "I got a slingshot, I got a slingshot!" he sang "oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!" and he ran out of the shop. He aimed at something random with his slingshot, and the door slammed behind him.

"Hello there" someone said, causing Link to jump about three feet in the air.

"Holy cow!" he said "who are you!!"

A boy a little older than him stepped out of the shadows. "I am Sheik, youngest of the Sheikahs."

"Is that a title or a name?" Link asked.

"You know, I've wondered that myself sometimes" Sheik replied "so who are you?"

"I'm Link, and I just got a new slingshot" Link aimed again and shot a nearby tree "you know. I don't think I've seen you around town before."

"You probably haven't, I don't visit often."

"Really? How far away do you live?"

"Not far, but I never have a chance to visit."

Link found this a bit odd, but didn't really care at the moment. "You want to have a look around?" he asked. Sheik shook his head.

"That's alright, I've been here enough to know my way around."

"Oh." Link started walking, Sheik following. And Link did notice he did seem to know where he was going more than Link did himself.

"Are you planning on doing anything to do today?" Sheik asked.

"No, I just wanted to get this slingshot and then figured I might go shoot some stuff."

"Fun…" Sheik said, but he didn't seem too impressed.

"Hey," Link said "this might be an odd question, but… what's a Sheikah?"

Sheik stopped at this. "Hang on, you live in Kakariko and you don't know who the Sheikah are?"

Link nodded.

"Wow…" Sheik said, stunned "wow. I'll let you know later, I have to go."

"Oh, alright!" Link said, running off to find something to practice his slingshot on.

* * *

Sheik sat on the roof of some random house. He wasn't really doing anything, because there really wasn't anything to do.

"Hey Sheik!!" someone called, and he looked down at the ground, where Link stood, holding a sword.

"I got a sword!!" Link said

"That's great!" Sheik said, jumping off the roof and landing lightly on the ground. Maybe now he could see how good of a hero Link was going to be. Teaching him how to aim a slingshot was enough work, and he almost dreaded the next few weeks if Link didn't know how to use a sword.

"Have you ever used a sword before?" Sheik asked.

"Not a real one, but I have used wooden ones before" Link said "you know any good places I can practice?"

Sheik did know a few good places, but wasn't sure what the Sheikah would think if he brought a foreigner into their midst. He could just say Link was a hero and needed training, but that would make Link feel weird, and he was trying to avoid that. Then he thought of somewhere they could go without much trouble.

"Yeah, I do" Sheik said "as long as you don't mind going to Castle Town"

"Castle Town!! Oh boy!! I haven't been there in a while, let alone by myself. Or without my mom at least… I should probably go ask her if it's okay"

"You go ahead, I'll wait for you."

"Okay!" Link said, running off.

Sheik started walking in the direction of Link's house, thinking of the exact way for them to get where they were going to go. The guards might get suspicious if they saw them, but he did have slight authority. Not a lot but probably enough to get by.

"I can go!" Link said, running up to Sheik. They were right outside Link's house, and Link's mother stood in the doorway. She looked tired, but was otherwise a beautiful woman.

"Ah!" she said "so this is the Sheik I've heard so much about."

Sheik inclined his head, a slight show of respect.

"I'm Link's mom, as you can probably tell" Link's mom said

"Hello" Sheik said

"You can just call me Link's mom, or Mrs. Link's mom, or Alice if you really want."

At hearing Link's mom mention her name, Sheik's eyes lit up in realization of who she was. He had seen her around the castle when he was little, quite a bit actually. He smiled. "Alright, we're going to go now."

"Be safe!" she called as they left.

"You're mother seems nice" Sheik said

"I know! She's the best mother in the world!" Link said, as they left the village and headed into Hyrule field.

"Be ready to fight some monsters" Sheik said

"Monsters!?"

Sheik just laughed and walked on. It didn't take long for them to reach Castle Town, and as soon as they were in Link asked "so where can we train in Castle Town?"

"You'll see" Sheik said

"Okay" and Link was quiet for the rest of their walk. They went through a path at the back end of Castle Town, the path that led to the Castle.

"Isn't the way to the Castle?" Link asked. Sheik nodded "Are we allowed back here?"

"Well, yes, _I _am, not sure if you are. I bet you'll be fine though." Sheik said, but then realized how right Link was. He might not be able to get past the guards with the little authority that Sheik had. "Tell you what" he said "I'll distract the guards, and you can run past them. It's like stealth training"

"That sounds like fun!" Link said

"Alright, there are some vines over there that you can climb to get over the gate up ahead. Just head towards the Castle and try not to get thrown out"

"Got it!" Link said, running off.

Sheik waited a bit until he could see Link up on the ledge above him, and then went to go talk to the guard.

"Oh! Hi Sheik" the guard said "first friendly face I've seen all day! You want through don't you?" Sheik nodded "alright then!" the guard continued, opening the gate "don't bother to stay around and chat! I'll just stand here being bored!"

Sheik smiled and walked up to the next pair of guards. "Hello" he said, watching Link run by out of the corner of his eye, and then headed on himself. To the next guard he said "Lovely day isn't it?" The guard only nodded, and Sheik watched Link trying figure out what to do and had to try not to laugh "how are things looking?" Sheik asked, trying hard to keep the conversation going long enough for Link to get by.

"Fine. Now get going before I have you thrown out." Sheik frowned at this comment and headed on seeing that Link had gotten past okay. But because the guard had ticked him off slightly he pulled out a dagger and threw it over his shoulder.

"Hey!!" the guard said

"Sorry!" Sheik called back "it slipped" and he grinned slightly. The two met at the entrance to the Castle.

"Alright" Sheik said "you could have done that on your own if you had known where to go. Now this time it's going to be harder, and thank goodness we don't have a lot of Castle to get through before reaching the training grounds. And no one should be there except maybe a few new recruits, but even that's unlikely. I'll distract the guards just long enough for you to run past, but that might not be long."

"Don't worry, I've got this" Link said enthusiastically.

"You better" Sheik muttered, heading over to the first guard.

The process was long and tiring, and many of the guards didn't seem to like the fact that he was talking to them. Link seemed to be doing alright, but soon enough there was a cry of "INTRUDER!!" And Sheik smacked himself in the forehead and then headed off to make sure none of the guards _outside_ noticed that some random kid had just been thrown out of the Castle.

* * *

They did finally get past all the guards and into the training grounds. And after a while of random training, Sheik decided it was probably time to be done. And it wasn't just because Link had been complaining for the past hour either.

"We're done _now_ aren't we?" Link asked, and Sheik nodded.

"You head on home, I have an errand to run here at the Castle" he said "you can sneak past the guards if you want, or you could just let them catch you and throw you out, it would probably be faster"

"I'll figure something out" Link said, leaving. Sheik headed back into the Castle, and navigated his way to the Princess's quarters. He knocked on her door in a special code that they had come up with when they were kids.

"Come in!" she called, and Sheik opened the door.

"Hello princess" he said, shutting the door behind him. She was lying on her bed, looking through a book.

"Hey Sheik" Zelda said, turning the page.

"What are you doing?" Sheik asked, sitting down in a chair and doing something to make himself look occupied.

"Reading."

"Reading what? You hardly ever read."

"Researching, trying to figure out if anything besides the Master Sword can defeat evil."

"Find anything?"

Zelda shook her head and turned the page. "Light Arrows did a lot, but it was always a finishing blow from the Master Sword that did the trick."

Sheik sighed

"He's not ready to be a hero though" he said "none of us are actually, but he needs a lot more training."

"You were down at the training grounds earlier, and need me to make sure you can get there okay."

"No… actually, I just wanted to let you know. Getting past the guards is part of the training"

"Alright then…" the princess turned another page in the book "That it?"

Sheik nodded and stood up "I'll see you later Zelda." He said, heading out the door.

"Bye…"

* * *

"Home already?" Link's mom asked as she opened the door for her son. He nodded. "Where'd you go?"

"We went to the Castle!!" Link said. A small smiled played across his mother's face as she remembered her time's back at the Castle.

"How'd you get past the guards?" she asked

"Sheik distracted them while I ran past" he replied, laughing slightly. He had watched Sheik the entire time, and remembered one of his conversations with the guards. The guard had ticked him off, and Link learned then and there that he shouldn't mess with Sheik. Sheik had "accidently" tossed a dagger at the guard.

"Did you have fun?" his mother asked, and Link nodded enthusiastically.

"I don't see why people have so many problems with swords. They're the greatest thing in the world and so easy to use!!" Link said, flexing his tired arms.

The words pierced through his mother's heart, for they were some of the very words she had dreaded her son saying.


	2. Chapter 2

-Chapter 2-

It was late at night, and Link lie awake in his room thinking over the past few weeks. The training hadn't gotten any easier, but it had gotten easier to sneak past the guards. But that might have been because of Sheik's random ideas of ways to distract the guards.

Link distinctively remembered this one time, when Sheik had ended up with a cut on his arm, and just looked at Link and smiled.

"This should be easy, wait out here for a second" he had said, heading inside. It wasn't long before he heard a scream from inside

"OH MY GOSH HE'S BLEEDING!!!" someone had screamed, and Link snuck inside. There was literally no one there, and he found all the guards crowded around Sheik, who kept trying to shove them off with his persistent saying of "I'm fine" over and over again.

Link had run to the training grounds quickly, and waited for Sheik to appear.

He came not much later, a grin on his face as he bandaged up his wound.

"Life is unpredictable" Link remembered him saying "and a true warrior learns to manipulate life's unpredictableness to their own advantage"

And just as he rolled over to try and get some sleep there was a knock on his window. Link sat up and looked out the window to see who had been knocking, and found Sheik. He opened the window.

"Come on, night training" Sheik said, hopping out of the way so Link could clamber out of the window. On the way to the Castle Sheik explained.

"You should watch out, things here tend to look a lot different at night then they do during the day. And sneaking around at night requires much more stealth, for the amount of guards is almost triple its usual standard. And that's why I won't be doing anything to distract them, but will be with you every step of the way." The talk took longer than Link had expected, and he found himself nearly out of Castle Town by the time Sheik had finished, which Link was glad of, because Castle Town was eerily quiet at night.

The guards outside they slipped past with ease, but it was inside that Link found it harder to keep up with Sheik. He tended to slip through the shadows with unnatural grace, and had soon left Link behind. Link wondered how he did it, and remembered something he had heard about the Sheikah; they were known as the Shadow Folk. Of course. Slightly annoyed at this Link tried harder to get through the Castle, but it became harder to do as he went along.

"Alright Link, use your instinct." He muttered to himself, and started almost blindly through the Castle. It seemed easier, and he was cautious of the extra guards. He was almost to the door that led to the training grounds when he was caught by a strong arm and lifted off his feet.

"Well then," hissed a voice in his ear "do we have a little intruder in our midst?"

Link scowled and said nothing, waiting to be thrown out, but it didn't come.

"Don't think I'm going to throw you out, like any of the other guards around here, oh no. I know better. People like you will just end up sneaking back in."

The person started walking, and none of the guards took them any notice. Link wondered where this person could be taking him, and hoped it wasn't some prison cell.

It turned out to be a room filled with random furniture, and Link soon found himself thrust into a chair.

"Who are you?" the person asked.

"Why should I tell you?" Link replied.

"Why shouldn't you?" the person asked

Link did not reply, and refused to say more despite the person's persistent questioning.

The door of the room burst open suddenly, and Sheik ran in and fell instantly to a knee.

"Master Hiru" he gasped

And this shocked Link, for he had never heard Sheik call anyone "Master" before, let alone do an equivalent of a bow. To him, Sheik had always been a strong, confident person, never bent or broken and played by his own rules, yet here he was on his knees like some boy begging for forgiveness. And Link wasn't actually sure if that's what he was doing or not.

The person turned around and looked at Sheik, and the tone about him changed. "Sheik, what are you doing here?"

"I am sorry. I brought him here to help him improve his poor stealth abilities." Sheik said, leaving Link fuming slightly. But Link knew that Sheik was just saying that to get him out of this mess. Or that's what he hoped.

"Why?" the person asked.

Sheik cast a tentative glance at Link and then looked back to the one he had called Master Hiru. "Can I explain outside?" he asked. Master Hiru seemed confused, but allowed it and the two walked out, leaving Link as confused as ever. He wondered what the heck was going on, and his answer came a painstaking 5 minutes later.

* * *

"Sorry about that" Sheik said, coming inside "I had to lie to Master Hiru what about exactly we were doing here, and I didn't trust you not to blurt out an ounce of truth or make my lies more absurd than they needed to be." It pained him to say it, because he was lying to Link way more than he had lied to Master Hiru. In fact, he had told the complete truth to Master Hiru, but Link couldn't know that truth. Not yet.

"So you don't trust me?" Link asked. The pain in his voice was almost unbearable, and Sheik learned early how much it hurt to lie to a friend.

"Of course I do!! I just didn't trust your ability to lie, because Master Hiru is really good at detecting them, and if you were to mention an ounce of truth that wasn't needed he would be able to see right through the lie I had created" It wasn't complete truth, yet it wasn't total lie either. Master Hiru could detect lies easily, and that's why Sheik didn't dare tell any to him.

"Oh" Link said, relief in his voice. Sheik was glad of this, but it didn't make the lying any easier.

"So this master Hiru guy is another Sheikah?" Link asked. Sheik nodded. "That makes sense." Link said "I think"

Sheik had to laugh at Link's cluelessness, and was reminded of how they had gotten here in the first place.

"You were caught." Sheik said.

"Well, yeah…" Link said "but I was caught by a Sheikah, not just some guard."

Sheik considered this for a moment. "Not the point" he said "if you had really been careful not even Master Hiru would have noticed you. You went by instinct didn't you!?"

"Maybe…" Link said

"Not that I have a problem with instincts, but it's a bad stealth tactic. A true warrior must always be alert, especially when sneaking around!!"

"Sorry…" Link muttered.

"It's alright" Sheik said, rubbing his head "you can head on home, we'll try again another night."

Link nodded, and headed off. Sheik played the past few minutes over in his mind. He felt guilty about lying to Link, but Link still seemed to trust him. He wasn't sure if that was what pained him so much though.

"It's a surprise seeing you here this late" said a voice from behind him. Sheik turned around, finding Zelda. She was in her nightgown, and her hair was down.

"Stealth training" Sheik said

"Ah. I see" Zelda said

"You find anything in your research?" Sheik asked. Zelda shook her head

"I've gone through just about every book in that library, and have found nothing."

"That's… depressing…" Sheik said.

"How's training going?" Zelda asked

"Not bad. Link's great with a sword, but his stealth needs a lot of work. But I guess if it didn't I wouldn't be here at the moment." He laughed.

Zelda smiled. "Well," she said "we should go get some sleep. It's late."

"Yeah" Sheik said "Bye Princess!" and he walked off

* * *

Zelda watched Sheik's retreating figure and wandered the silent Castle. The guards only guarded the main hall and the Queen's room. They were occasionally stationed outside of Zelda's room, but it wasn't often.

The young princess walked into the library, once again sighing at the large bookshelves that held nothing that was useful. She had looked through every history book, every book on weapons, and every book on anything that had to do with Link's ancestors. But even with a library so large there was nothing mentioned but the Master Sword. Well, besides the Light Arrows. And at the moment that was all they had.

Zelda ran her hands along the books, hoping that maybe one would just bite her if it had any good info in it. None did. She pulled a random one off the shelf and was surprised when an opening appeared in the stone wall nearby.

"A secret passage" she whispered. She knew the Castle had them, but had never found one before.

She made quick note of what book she had pulled out before running through the passageway. She found her way to another library, and this one was TINY. There might have been a hundred books at the most it was so small.

But she knew that if it had been hidden, it had to be worth it. She looked at every title and skimmed briefly the contents of each book.

She slowly pulled out a book that had a faded symbol of the Triforce on it with faded and nearly impossible to read words under it. She opened its yellow pages slowly. The first few pages were blank, and that was because they had a small key shoved between them. She pulled it out and set the book down on a nearby desk. She didn't have to wonder long what the key was to, because there was a drawer on the desk that was locked shut. She put the key in the lock and turned it.

The drawer popped open. Inside was a stack of journals, most of them faded with age. Zelda flipped through a few of them idly and then gasped when she realized what these were. They were the journals of past princesses of Hyrule. Some of them were so old that Zelda feared if she touched them they might crumble.

And looking at them more closely, she laughed as she noticed a lot of similarities between them. At least half of them had the story of a hero named Link, and almost all of them were written by someone named Zelda.

She didn't find her mother's journal in there, but wasn't surprised. Her mother probably kept it somewhere special. Figuring that if she started reading any now that they she would end up there all night, she closed the drawer, returned the key, and left the little library.

And the princess of Hyrule went to bed that night eagerly.


	3. Chapter 3

-Chapter 3-

Sheik knocked on the door. Link's mother answered.

"Ah!" she said "just the person I wanted to see" and she dragged him inside.

"Where's Link?" Sheik asked

"Still asleep" his mother replied "and I would like to know why."

"Um, night training" Sheik said, taking the cup of tea he was offered. He sipped it slowly.

"That would explain a lot" Link's mother said, pouring herself a cup of tea. She leaned against the kitchen counter.

Sheik, who was slightly confused, asked "How much do you know about Link's training?"

Link's mother smiled "a lot, considering I was the one who asked the Queen if she could do anything about Link's memory problems."

Swallowing hard, to avoid spewing tea everywhere in shock, Sheik coughed "Oh"

"But it worries me that all of this is coming so easy to him," she sighed

"Yeah, memories could come back suddenly" Sheik said "just at the swing of a sword, or a mention of who knows what."

Link's mother nodded "It's hard. It really is"

"I'll say, training's getting bad enough without all the random question asking. He wants to know a lot, and I'm afraid anything I might say will trigger a random memory. I might be a bit paranoid about it but…"

Link's mother only smiled "I totally get it. So how are you solving the whole Master Sword issue?"

Sheik looked at his nearly empty tea cup and said "the Princess is working on it."

Link's mother laughed "if anyone's going to find anything it will be her. Curiosity runs through those veins."

"I sure hope she doesn't get distracted by it though" Sheik laughed, draining the rest of his tea.

"How _did _stealth training go anyways?" Link's mother asked

"Not bad, Link got caught, but…" Sheik's smile faded "I hate lying" he muttered. Link's mother must have seen the sudden uncomfortable look on his face, for she asked:

"How much lying did you have to do?"

"A lot, all of it to Link" Sheik turned away "if Master Hiru hadn't been there things would have been easier. But I had to tell him, in private, so Link didn't hear anything that might trigger something. _And _Link got confused so I had to lie and say that I was lying to Master Hiru when I wasn't…" he trailed off.

"Aww… I feel sorry for you" Link's mother said "and I'd offer you a hug, but then things would get a bit awkward. Why don't you go yell at Link to wake him up, maybe that will make you feel better."

Sheik allowed himself a small smile and headed to Link's room to do so.

* * *

"HEY! GET UP!!!" was the first thing Link heard that morning. "I DON'T CARE IF WE WERE UP AT WHO KNOWS WHAT TIME LAST NIGHT BUT YOU NEED TO WAKE UP NOW!!"

Link blinked wearily, and looked at who was screaming in his ear. It was Sheik.

"What are you doing here so early?" he asked groggily

"Early?" Sheik asked "EARLY!? IT'S PAST NOON!!!"

That got Link up. "What?!" he asked.

"YES YOU IDIOT!! IT'S PAST NOON!! YOU'VE SLEPT THE DAY AWAY!!"

"Well that's just great" Link said "now that I'm up, you can go wait outside or something" Link waved him out of the room. Once Sheik was gone Link contemplated the idea of just going back to sleep, but decided against it. He got up and shoved his boots back on, for he had fallen asleep in his clothes the night before, and went to grab something to eat.

"Finally woke up" his mother said, handing him a piece of toast. Link took it without mentioning the fact it was indeed past noon and he would probably want something more substantial. That was when he noticed the eggs sitting on a plate off to the side.

Glad to have something to go with his toast, Link ate quickly.

"See ya mom!" he said, running outside.

"Bye!" was all she managed before he was gone.

Sheik looked at him oddly.

"What?" Link asked, stuffing the last piece of toast in his mouth "Everyone has to eat eventually."

Sheik frowned, for it was indeed the truth. They headed off to the Castle. Having the routine of the guards pretty much down by now, Link didn't really need much of Sheik's help getting in. And that was a good thing, because Sheik had just gotten himself thrown out. Trying not to laugh as the guard dragged Sheik out, he took the opportunity to run past and through the door that led to the training grounds. Link sighed and waited for Sheik to find his way back in.

And it didn't take long apparently, because next thing Link knew there was the sound of feet hitting the ground behind him, and he turned around to find Sheik.

"Whoa!" Link said "how'd you get in from over there?" It wasn't a very good question, considering that Link knew that Sheik knew the Castle all too well and probably quite a few ways to sneak in. But since when could anyone get in on that side? It was all stone wall, Link had seen it himself.

"Climbed the wall" Sheik said

That would explain it. "Why can't we do that all the time though?" Link asked.

"Trust me" Sheik said, looking at his fingertips. Link noticed that they were bleeding "You do not want to climb that wall, especially on a regular basis."

"Oh" Link said

"Come on, we have training to do" Sheik said, just as Link pulled out his sword.

"One step ahead of you" he smiled.

Sheik returned the smile.

* * *

Zelda was up early that morning, already in the secret library and reading her way through the journals. If she were to find anything about the Master Sword she was almost positive she would find it here. And if she didn't, then at least she learned something about her ancestors.

She had to stop eventually though, because her eyes started hurting so much that she couldn't make out words anymore. She had only gotten through about five or six journals. Zelda's stomach grumbled and she decide she should probably get some food, considering she hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch.

None of the cooks really seemed to care that she came in seemingly randomly to get food, and thankfully none asked where she had been all morning. Zelda ate quickly, for she was starving, and tried not to make a pig of herself.

Zelda trudged back up to her room, deciding that her eyes still hurt too much to do any more reading. She ran over what she had already read in her mind. Hyrule had had a lot of issues in the past apparently, ranging from kidnapped princesses to wars, and that was only in the first five journals. She almost dreaded what would come next.

Zelda sighed, and lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. Her eyes hurt so badly, and she could feel a headache coming on. She laughed remembering her mother telling her just a few weeks ago when Zelda had gotten her first major headache.

"Get used to them now" the Queen had laughed "they only get worse the longer you're queen."

Zelda stopped laughing though, because it hurt her head worse. She moaned at the pain. _Stupid headaches!_ She thought, rubbing her eyes. _Maybe I should try and get some sleep_… she thought as she yawned. But the sudden sound of metal clashing against metal caught her attention.

"What the heck?" she muttered, wondering what the noise could be. She got up and stumbled over to her window and _then_ she remembered. Her window had perfect view of the training grounds. Looking down below, she noticed two figures fighting. One of them she recognized instantly, it was Sheik. The other boy took her a minute to recognize but she soon figured out it was that one boy, Link. She had only seen him before, never talked to him.

She watched them duel for a while, and then realized something quite suddenly.

_Since when does Sheik have a sword!?_ She thought, utterly shocked.

Zelda watched them for a while, surprised at how graceful Sheik was when he fought. And then Link, who was lacking grace in general, did seem to be good with a sword.

_Memories leaking, maybe?_ Zelda thought _or is it just plain instinct?_ She hoped it was the second.

Not before long the two stopped, and even from the distance she could see Link breathing heavily while Sheik seemed unfazed.

"If only _he_ were the one supposed to save Hyrule, then we'd have no worry" Zelda said, then scorned herself for thinking such a thing. There was a reason Link was supposed to save Hyrule, even if the reason was unclear.

The two parted, Link heading out of the Castle and Sheik heading farther into it. Zelda smiled and ran out of her room to go meet him.

They ran into one another on the third floor, literally actually. Sheik caught himself and the princess and stopped them from falling.

"Whoa!" Sheik said, and then laughed "I'm beginning to sound like Link!!"

Zelda laughed also, even though she didn't quite get the joke. "What's new?"

"Link's getting better at sword fighting" Sheik said "pretty soon he'll have done just about every training exercise there is. How's research going?"

"Great!" Zelda said "I haven't found anything, but I did find," she paused, then decided that maybe she shouldn't tell Sheik about the journals "something. I'm going to have to look into it more before I can say anything. Don't want to raise any false hopes."

"Alright" Sheik said "Well, I guess I'll be off then. Bye Zelda!" and he ran off.

"Bye Sheik" she called, then headed off to read some more journals.


	4. Chapter 4

-Chapter 4-

Link looked at the bow and the quiver of arrows that leaned against the wall under it. He ran his fingers along the smooth wood of the bow and couldn't help but smile.

"You can have it if you want" Ralph said, causing Link to turn around at look at the old man. He was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.

"It's not like I use it anymore" Ralph laughed

"It's not that…" Link muttered, staring at his feet "I'm just kind of embarrassed that I snuck into your house…"

Ralph let out a hearty laugh "Don't worry about it. That's how my gramps got this bow. Gramps was an eager young lad and snuck into the house of a Hero that was around then. To his embarrassment the Hero found him with the bow when he was trying desperately to work it. The Hero just smiled and taught him how to shoot an arrow, and then said he could have it. 'I don't use it any more' he said. And Gramps heard him mutter under his breath 'and I really don't want to either' Gramps thanked him and it's been passed down through our family ever since."

"So I can seriously have it?" Link asked

"Yes!" Ralph said "I thought I said yes already!!"

Link laughed and took the bow of the wall and swung the quiver on his back.

"You know how to use it right?" Ralph asked

"I think…" Link said "can we go outside so you can show me if I don't get it right…" he was staring at his feet again.

"Of course lad!" Ralph laughed, ruffling Link's hair. The two headed outside.

"Here," Ralph said "just shoot it at the wall."

Link nodded and notched an arrow, pulled back the bowstring, and fired. He turned to Ralph, who was standing there gawking at him.

"That was, right, wasn't it?" he asked shyly.

"Right?" Ralph laughed "By golly boy! You're better than I thought you would be! And boy, you look, well, _heroic_ when you aim that thing! I really don't regret giving this old bow to you."

Link smiled "thanks again Ralph" he said, running off to go show his bow off to… well anyone who would listen.

* * *

Sheik wasn't sure to be grateful or worried that Link got a bow. What if he didn't know how to shoot it? That would take them down the route of the slingshot again. But then again, the bow introduced a whole new area of training that they probably needed to explore, and that would give Zelda quite a bit more time to research.

Maybe he should actually ask Link about this, considering all that Sheik had heard was a bunch of rumors running around Kakariko. He turned around, and saw a boy a bit younger than him running past.

"Hey Sheik!!" the boy said, stopping. Sheik smiled, he had become well known around Kakariko recently, and found it comforting to just walk around with people yelling their hellos as he passed.

"Hello…" Sheik said, trailing off, he had forgotten the boy's name.

"Caleb" the boy finished "gosh! You can't remember a thing lately!!" he laughed "so you heard about Link's bow right?"

Sheik nodded

"Have you seen it?"

Sheik shook his head.

"You haven't!?" Caleb seemed astonish "I thought, of all people, Link would go to you first! Maybe he couldn't find you and just spread the word along the way." Caleb shrugged "ah well, you should go talk to him! And watch him shoot something, he looks really cool when he does, and his accuracy…" Caleb trailed off, leaving Sheik to figure he had no idea what he was talking about anymore.

"I'll go find him" Sheik said, heading off. It didn't take long to find Link, because he was showing off to a group of kids how well he was at shooting an arrow. Sheik watched from a distance. Link took notice of Sheik, and shooed the kids away.

"Hey!" he said, walking over.

"Heard you got a bow" Sheik said and crossed his arms. Link held it up.

"Yeah!" he said "Ralph gave it to me, said he didn't need it anymore. Apparently his grandpa got it from some hero!"

That sparked Sheik's attention "Really?" he asked "can I see?"

"Sure" Link handed him the bow. Sheik examined it for a bit before handing it back. "You wanna see me shoot something?" Link asked excitedly.

Sheik didn't really want to, but decided to humor Link and nodded. Link shot randomly.

"Cool" Sheik said, sounding very unimpressed. But he was impressed, Link did actually know how to use a bow, and that would save him a lot of trouble.

"Should we go train?" Sheik asked, and Link nodded.

"But first," he said "know anywhere I can get some arrows?"

Sheik rolled his eyes "come on" he said, dragging Link to the nearest place they could get arrows.

* * *

Zelda read until her eyes hurt, and longer still past that. She finally managed to read all of them, only stopping once to get something to eat before she died of starvation. She looked at the stack of journals that was on the desk, and sighed. Not a single one of them had any weapon that might be useful. It was Master sword this, Master Sword that, with the occasionally "he used light arrows to defeat him" or not a mention of a weapon at all. It was getting pointless.

Zelda put the books back in the drawer she had found them in, locked it again and stuck the key back in the book. Then she paused and pulled the book back off the shelf and dusted it off. She found that the words under the Triforce that she had mistaken as old and unreadable were really just covered in dust. And as soon as she had brushed the dust off, she noticed that the words were written in her mom's graceful handwriting.

"The Legacy of LiteHart"

_Huh?_ Zelda thought, wondering what the heck LiteHart was. She opened the book and began to read.


	5. Chapter 5

-Chapter 5-

The next few months for Sheik, Zelda, and Link went something like this:

For Sheik:

Sheik's days were filled with the constant routine. Wake up, train a bit with the Sheikahs, go find Link and help him train and listen to his constant whining, and then go see if Zelda had found anything. After that he was free to do whatever he wanted, which usually consisted of minor hobbies or sleeping. Eating was thrown into his daily routine randomly, mostly depending on when he was hungry and when he could actually eat. Night training for Link was thrown in on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Waking up was probably his least favorite thing about the day, because it was just the start of what he had to come.

Training… well, it wasn't terrible. There wasn't much else to say upon the subject.

Training Link wasn't terrible either, considering Link learned quickly. But the problem was that he learned so quickly that they were running out of things to do at the training grounds of Hyrule Castle, and Sheik knew that Link would need more training than what was offered there. So with that weighing heavily upon him he also had to worry about Link's constant complaining. He would be fine one minute, and the next would be asking when the training was over. Sheik desperately hoped he stopped soon, or Hyrule would be helpless if he were to have the title 'Hero' thrust upon him.

Seeing if Zelda had found anything was usually depressing, because she never did. But she did seem like she was on to something. But she could have just been lying to make Sheik feel better.

Then came his favorite part of the day: the part where he didn't have to do anything. He usually slept then or tried to catch up on his desperate hopes to learn how to play a musical instrument. Or he would think about things.

Night training was just like regular training with Link, just instead of yelling, fierce arguments in hushed voices. Link was terrible at sneaking around.

And then the eating… well that was just eating. Everyone had to eat sometime.

* * *

The months for Zelda were filled with research, training, and more research.

The research wasn't going all too well, but she did find out soon what LiteHart was, but promised not to tell anyone, for fear of her mother finding out.

And after a while of reading the journals and other books she had found in that library, she had realized how much trouble the princess of Hyrule tended to get herself in. She vowed that when trouble came this time around, she would be ready.

She took up the matter with her mother, who thought it a great idea, and just told Zelda to go to the training grounds. But fearing complications that might arise that could cause problems with Link's training, Zelda decided to find some discarded servants clothes and train in that. If she disguised herself as a servant girl, then know one would recognize her.

And so that was exactly what she did.

* * *

And for Link, well, Link was Link and Link didn't think any of the past few months exciting, except the fact that he was flying through the training levels at the Castle with ease.

"How'd I do?" Link asked. They were in the middle of another training session. He lowered his sword.

"Great" Sheik said, lowering his own weapon.

"Alright!" Link said, punching the air "so what next?"

Sheik didn't reply, he was staring off to the side with a look of shock on his face.

"Sheik?" Link asked "you alright?" he looked to where Sheik was looking, but found nothing.

Sheik slowly sunk to a knee and bowed his head. Link was still looking to see if he could find what Sheik had been looking at. All he saw was some servant girl coming their way.

"Sheik… what the--" Link's sentence was cut off as Sheik pulled him to his knees also.

"Sheik, what is going on?" Link hissed

"Shh!!" Sheik hissed back.

Link looked up at the servant girl that had stopped a few feet of way from them. She looked at them, and then looked around. Finding no one else around besides her, her eyes widened.

"Shoot" she muttered

* * *

"Thanks a whole lot Sheik!" the princess said dryly as they headed up the stairs.

"Sorry" Sheik muttered "You may be able to fool any plain old guards, but you never would have fooled me."

"You didn't have to express it though"

"Alright, I'm missing something" Link said. Sheik turned to him, and Zelda did the same.

"Missing what?" they asked simultaneously

"Who are you" he asked, pointing to Zelda "and how do you two know each other?"

Zelda turned to Sheik.

"Is he really that clueless?" she asked. Sheik just shrugged and turned back to Link. He seemed completely clueless.

"I guess he is" Sheik replied

Sheik stifled a laugh as Zelda rolled her eyes and turned around to face Link. She was on the step above him, but that only made her about the same size as him.

"I'm the princess" Zelda said.

"oh" Link said. Sheik looked between the two of them, noting how the two looked almost exactly alike. Their eyes were only a few shades of blue off from each other and Zelda's hair was a slightly lighter shade of gold than Link's. If Sheik didn't know better, he would think they were related.

"Now that that's cleared up" Sheik said, and the trio started back up the stairs.

And after a while of climbing Zelda stopped and pushed open a door to a room that only had a few crates in it. Zelda sat down on one of the crates and Link did the same. Sheik remained standing.

"Alright" Zelda said, casting a glance at Sheik. Their eyes met, and Sheik caught the drift of what Zelda was up to. He nodded. "This is happening way before we, sorry, I planned. We weren't supposed to meet for at least another year."

Link looked at Zelda "Why? I'm just some random kid that lives in Kakariko, why would I need to see the princess?"

Sheik had to stop himself from laughing, for Link was more than just some random kid.

Zelda sighed. Sheik gave her a glance and said "It's your choice, not mine."

"You're a hero Link" Zelda said "or at least are destined to be."

"Why?" Link asked

"Every once in a while, there needs to be a hero to protect Hyrule from evil, and" Zelda began, but Link cut her off.

"No, I mean, why me?" Link asked

Zelda bit her lip. It seemed as if she knew the answer to that question, but couldn't say it. Whether it was because it might trigger some memories or because of something else, Sheik did not know.

"I don't know" she whispered lamely

"Well that's just great" Link said "and I finally get all the training!!" he flashed a smile at Sheik, who weakly smiled back.

"Now forgive me Link, for not having some long speech about what trouble Hyrule is in, but I have no idea what trouble it is in, or will be in." Zelda said. Sheik cast a warning glance at her, notifying her she was treading on a thin line.

"I don't mind" Link laughed

Sheik turned to Zelda, "why were you in the training grounds anyways?" he asked "disguised as a servant girl, I might add."

"I thought it would be cool if I had some fighting skill, and didn't think doing so as the princess would be a good idea" Zelda explained.

"Fair enough" Sheik said

Zelda laughed, though it was slightly bitter. "All the guards would laugh and watch the 'poor little servant girl' attempt to train herself. They'd offer help, but I would deny it. Oh how I wished they knew who they were really dealing with." But she shook her head "enough about me. We shouldn't being seeing each other anytime soon anyways so…" then Zelda laughed, for real this time "wow did I sound like my mother. I'm growing up already!!"

Sheik laughed at this, and Link did too, nervously.

"Anyways" Zelda said, standing up. Link shot to his feet as she did so "I'll be off now. I have a few things to read." She cast a twinkling eye at Sheik, who smiled at her.

"See you princess" he called.

"Wow…" Link said after she had gone "the princess…."

Sheik smiled at Link "Yeah"

"She's beautiful" Link muttered

Sheik smacked himself in the forehead.


	6. Chapter 6

alright, sorry for keeping you waiting, if you really care. I just want to let you know, whatever that face wrapping thing (don't know what it's called, looked 3 different places and got three different answers) Sheik wears in Ocarina of Time, the Shiek in my story doesnt wear. just figured I'd let you know, the knowledge will be important later

* * *

-Chapter 6-

"So I'm going to be a hero?" Link asked, and Sheik nodded. They were heading back to Kakariko.

"Yeah" Sheik said, kicking a rock.

"Did you know?" Link asked, but then added "of course you did, that was what the training was for wasn't it?"

Sheik nodded again

"Why didn't you tell me?" Link asked, exasperated "I even asked!"

"It wasn't my place to tell you" Sheik muttered

"How was it not your place to tell me?" Link asked, slightly angry.

"The Princess told me not too"

Link smiled now "Alright, I get it. Orders are orders aren't they?"

"Uh-huh" Sheik said

"You're quieter than usual"

"Just thinking"

"Thinking?" Link asked "about what?"

"Nothing really" Sheik said

"If you say so" Link said, bemused. He could just tell Sheik wasn't telling him something. _But what does it matter?_ He thought,_ we're friends, not uhh…_ Link failed to find a good idea for what he was thinking about, and abandoned the thought.

"I've gotta go" Link said "I promised my mother I wouldn't be late for dinner, and if I don't head off now I definitely will be."

Sheik smiled at Link "I understand" he said "not like I was keeping you anyways."

Link laughed "Bye!!" he said, before running the rest of the way home. He burst into his house and set his sword against the wall before running to hug his mom.

"How was your day sweetie?" she asked

"Great!" Link replied

"Learn anything?"

Link nodded "I'm gonna be a Hero!!"

Link's mother's eyes went wide before they went to a look that would kill and then changed to a fake look of happiness. Link took no notice of this though.

"That's great honey!!" she said, pretending to be excited.

* * *

She put on her cloak and stepped outside, shutting the door quietly behind her so she didn't wake Link. She started walking around Kakariko in search of Sheik.

She found him sitting on a rock, attempting to play a song on a harp.

"You!" she hissed, and Sheik jumped to his feet. He relaxed quickly though when he realized who she was.

"Oh, hi Alice" he said

Link's mother grabbed Sheik by the collar of his shirt and looked him in the eye. "Why does he know?" she hissed.

"Who? Knows what?" Sheik asked, looking shocked.

"You can't fool me Sheik. You know!"

"Know what?" Sheik seemed completely confused now, and his eyes betrayed him.

Link's mother let him go; figuring he didn't know what she was talking about. "Link knows he's a hero! Why?"

"We ran across Zelda and she told him." Sheik said. Link's mother frowned. Of course Zelda did. Zelda could never keep a secret.

"This isn't good!! His memories could be triggered by anything! Even meeting the princess!! You have no idea how much she looks like her ancestors!!"

Sheik finally got what she was saying "Oh gosh, what did we just do?"

"You tell me" Link's mother said

Sheik groaned. "We can't go back in time _now_, so what's done is done. There's nothing we can do about it."

"If only that weren't true" Link's mother sighed "oh well, I suppose we should get some sleep then. Goodnight Sheik" she said as she started off.

"Night" he called

She stopped and turned back around "By the way!" she called "try harder to keep your emotions hidden. Your eyes betray your thoughts too quickly."

"Sheesh" she could hear Sheik say "you're starting to sound like Master Hiru."

Link's mother smiled.

* * *

Sheik was left there with his thoughts, and he picked up his harp off the ground and absentmindedly played a few notes. He sighed; maybe the harp just wasn't for him. It seemed the only instrument he could play was the piano, but what good would that do him if he was off somewhere and he wanted to play a little music?

Not only that, but he was bored. He considered sleeping for a moment, then discarded the idea. He wasn't anywhere near tired. He headed into the forest that he happened to be sitting on the outskirts of and headed to the pond that lay in the center.

The pond was still, and Sheik picked up a stone of the ground and tossed it across the pond. He sighed; it wasn't as fun as it used to be. He walked slowly towards the castle.

It was quiet when he got there. Sheik didn't feel the need to break the silence so he hopped over one of the side walls, his feet hitting the ground lightly on the other side. He walked around to a side door that he knew wouldn't be locked and shut the door quietly behind him.

Upon entering Sheik found himself right by the library. Realizing he hadn't actually been in the library before, he went on in.

The library was huge and there had to hold over a billion books, with the shelves reaching for what seemed like forever. There was even stairs that lead you to a higher level, and another above that, and another above that, and another above that and…

Sheik stood there in amazement. How could Zelda not find anything to replace the Master Sword here? With all these books there had to be something!

But maybe that's why she was so frustrated, with all these books there _was_ nothing, and if you couldn't find anything here, then where could you?

But all thoughts of that were blown out of Sheik's mind as he decided to have a look around. He started with a sign that showed you where all the different subjects could be found.

"History, Legends, Novels…" he muttered to himself as he went down the list, none of them were really anything he would ever consider reading, especially not anytime soon, but he stopped when he found "Poetry" Sheik's eyes lit up at the thought of this. He happened to like poetry. He found what level it was on and headed up the stairs.

He pulled book after book off the shelf, and within a half hour had about 20 books surrounding him, and he was reading the one in his lap intently. The words leapt out at him, sucking him into their world. And soon, the only sound in the library was the ruffle of pages being turned.

* * *

Zelda woke later than usual, but wasn't the least surprised about it. She had fallen asleep among books last night, waking only long enough to crawl into her bed and go back to sleep. She got up and changed out of yesterday's clothes, and into something else.

Zelda picked up a few of the books she had deemed useless the night before, and headed off to the library to return them.

The library was silent when she entered, but that was usual. The sun managed to fill the entire library with a soft spring light, which automatically comforted Zelda. Winter was finally coming to end.

She sighed softly, and set the books on a nearby table, knowing that someone would be around eventually to put them back where they belonged. The books landed with a louder _thud_ than she had expected and the sound cut through the silence like a knife would butter.

She heard a slight sound above her, and looked up in shock. It shouldn't have surprised her that someone was in the library, but something felt different than usual. She climbed the stairs two at a time to the floor where she had heard the noise and was shocked to find Sheik. He was surrounded by books.

"You read!?" she asked, her voice echoing slightly.

"Huh?" Sheik looked up "oh! That's who's here" he smiled broadly and stood up, "of course I read!" he laughed.

"But still… and I never would have pegged you as a poetry person" Zelda said

"Can't judge a book by its cover" Sheik merely replied

"So you find anything good?" Zelda asked

Sheik nodded and held up the book he had been previously reading. It was old and falling apart, with a worn leather cover bound with a loose string. It was also very small. "It has a lot of good poetry in it, most of them very interesting also" Sheik said "Oh! And you'll get a kick out of this one" he picked another off the floor and handed it to her.

It looked more like a journal than anything, and she found inside of it a bunch of tales of a Hero, most of them sad and somber. There wasn't one happy one in there. She was puzzled why Sheik thought she would like this one. It obviously showed, because Sheik said "It was written by one of Link's ancestors."

"No wonder why the dreams he had were nightmares" Zelda mused "with emotions like this…" she trailed off, knowing that Sheik didn't need more of an explanation to get what she meant. The poems in this journal were filled with trials and heartrending stories, each about an unloved and misunderstood hero with a broken heart.

"We better make sure Link won't find this" Sheik said "his memories could be triggered by anything, and something in here will most likely spark something."

Zelda nodded and closed it. "But where would we hide it?"

Then Sheik laughed "who am I kidding?" he gasped through his laughter "Link doesn't read."

Zelda couldn't help but laugh either. There was something about the way Sheik laughed that just made her want to smile and laugh along. It was probably the way his laughter showed in his bright red eyes; unlike it did in any other Sheikah. Or maybe it was the way that blond hair moved ever so slightly when he laughed. She didn't know, and didn't really care either.

"So…" Sheik said when they had finally stopped laughing "can I borrow this book?" he held up the old poetry book again.

"Of course you can" Zelda said "it is a library after all."

"Cool" Sheik said, and he stuck the book carefully in his belt. He started cleaning up the books that were strewn about his feet. Zelda bent down to help him, and soon they had all the books back on the shelves.

"Wanna go get some breakfast?" Zelda asked.

"Alright" Sheik said, with a shrug "not like I have anything to do today anyways."

Zelda looked at him "What about Link?" she asked, utterly confused.

Sheik raised his eyebrows at her as they began down the stairs "He's done here at the castle, and I haven't found another place we can go yet."

"Why can't you just train somewhere in Kakarkiko? I'm sure you could think of something"

"Good idea." Sheik said, punching her lightly on the shoulder, which actually hurt a bit. "But why did you have to think of it first?" he whined, but laughed

Zelda just shrugged and laughed along, rubbing her shoulder. They had stopped by the time they reached the bottom floor. The flashed a grin at each other and headed down to the kitchens to eat something.


	7. Chapter 7

I'd like to thank Foxpilot for the idea for this chapter. Because as soon as I got the idea for them going to the lake, the only thing that delayed me was the fact that the rest of my family needed on the computer. Anyways, here's chapter 7

* * *

-Chapter 7-

Sheik had mulled over what Zelda said concerning further training with Link for a while. Yeah sure, Kakariko was fine and all, but what could he teach Link there that he couldn't at the training grounds?

He was heading back to Kakariko when it hit him. If the farthest Link had ever gone out of Kakariko was Castle Town, what did he know about any useful traveling skills? Did he know how to ride a horse, how to swim, the list went on.

Sheik smiled to himself for thinking of the idea. They could head down to the lake today.

There was one problem to this plan though. It took nearly a day's travel by foot to get to the lake, and it was nearly noon. There was also no way Sheik could find a horse, and teach Link how to ride in only a few hours.

Sheik yawned. If there was anything Sheik needed to do right now it was get some sleep. He headed off to do so.

* * *

"Link!!" his mother called

Link groaned and rolled over

"Sheik's here!!" his mother said

_Okay,_ Link thought, _it's either really late, and I've slept in more than I needed to, or Sheik's just here really early._

He opened one eye to look out the window. The sun had barely risen. _Yep, Sheik's just here early._

"Do you want me to send _him_ in there to wake you up?" his mother called, now sounding slightly irritated.

_No,_ he thought, but was too tired to say it. He sat up slowly, yawning, and said loud enough for them to hear "I'm coming, I'm coming." He threw on his clothes and headed out to the dining room/kitchen area.

Sheik was sitting at the table, eating. Link sighed and sat down. He took the bowl of cereal his mother offered him and started eating.

"Why are you here so early?" he asked Sheik.

"We're heading to the Lake today" he said "it's about a day's travel by foot."

"It seriously takes that long to get there?!" Link asked, shocked enough that he dropped his spoon "no wonder why I've never gone. Any faster way to get there?"

"No, unless you have a horse" Sheik said.

Link sighed, that was one thing he didn't have.

"Come on," Sheik said, standing up "we should be off"

Link gave Sheik an odd look, and stood up as well. There was something, different about Sheik today.

"What?" Sheik asked.

"I don't know…" Link said "you just seem different…"

"Different how?" Sheik asked, scowling slightly.

"I don't know! You seem, like happier than usual" Link said, wishing he hadn't said anything in the first place.

Sheik shrugged and headed out the door. Link grabbed his sword and followed.

"Have you been to the Lake before?" Link asked, swinging his sword onto his back.

Sheik nodded "when I was younger, haven been there in a while."

"How big is it?"

"Big" Sheik said, stopping at some house "hang on a second" he said, going inside. He came back out carrying a shield. "You're going to need this" he said, tossing the shield to Link.

Link admired it for a minute. It was metal. He started to ask Sheik why he would need it, before deciding against the thought and putting the shield on his back with his sword. Sheik slung a pack over his shoulder and they headed off again.

* * *

It did take them a while to get to the Lake, considering it was late afternoon by the time they had arrived. But nevertheless, Link was awed at first sight of the Lake.

It was huge, it was blue, and it was clean. These were the main things that stuck out in Link's mind. Every source of water he had seen in or around Kakariko was either a hot spring, or it was a puddle in a ditch left over from the rain.

Sheik smiled at Link's amazement "you want to go swimming?" he asked.

Link shook his head "I'm fine."

"You sure?" Sheik asked, heading into the water. Link nodded.

"Do you even know how?" Sheik asked, he was standing about waist high in the water.

Link bit his lip in embarrassment, for he didn't. The water in Kakariko barely reached knee height, so there was no need to swim.

Sheik sighed "I actually had a feeling you probably didn't. Come on in the water and I can teach you."

Link stayed put.

"What?" Sheik asked "is it to awkward or something?"

"No!" Link said, even though he did think it was slightly awkward.

"Then come on in the water!!"

Link sighed. He pulled off his boots, set his sword and shield down against a rock, and headed into the water. It was cold at first, but his body quickly got used to it.

And learning how to swim was easier than Link had first thought. Sheik showed him what to do, and before long he was doing it. Swimming was a piece of cake.

The two friends were soon having a heck of a time. Link was surprised though when he found Sheik pointing his daggersword thing (it was shorter than a sword, longer than a dagger and wielded incredibly like a dagger would be) at his throat.

"Think fast" Sheik said "what do you do?"

Link backed up out of the way and dove towards his sword. But Sheik got there first and kicked it into the water. Link scowled up at Sheik, but he just smiled. Link ran into the water and dove in, going after his sword. As soon as he found it he quickly unsheathed it and tossed the sheath ashore. Sheik made to attack him, but Link dove under the water and swam around to the other side of Sheik.

The water was shallow, so he was forced to stand. Link swung his sword, but Sheik was swift and brought up his own weapon to block it. Sheik made a jab and Link jumped backwards out of the way. He picked up his shield off the ground.

Sheik swung at him again, but Link blocked it with his shield. He smiled slightly, and swung his sword at Sheik. He blocked it. Link thrust his sword at Sheik, but he backed out of the way.

Getting a sudden idea, Link swung his sword at Sheik but made it overly easy to block. Sheik blocked, and Link smiled. He shoved his shield into Sheik's stomach, causing him to fall to the ground. One of his arms was pinned beneath him.

Link kicked Sheik's dagger out of his hand and pinned that arm to the ground with his foot. He pointed his sword at Sheik's throat.

"Dead" he proclaimed. Sheik smiled.

"Congratulations" Sheik said taking Link's outstretched hand and pulling himself up "you are able to fight waist deep in water."

Link smiled "it's not much different" he said. Sheik's smile grew wider.

"Come on" he said "let's make camp for tonight."

Link cast a glance at the sun in shock, only to realize it was already setting. It had gotten late quick. He shook his head and began helping Sheik with their camp.

* * *

It was early in the morning, only slightly after the sun had risen, but Link was already up. He was floating on his back in the water lazily. The summer sun and the cold water were a good combination, and it relaxed him.

But his relaxation was cut short when he heard an odd screeching noise. At first the noise was muted, for his ears were under water, but when he heard it the second time around he stood up. (The water was only waist deep, so he was able to do so.)

"STUPID KARGAROKS!!!" Sheik yelled from the shore. Link looked up at a large black bird thing that had been flying around, and realized it was what had been making the screeching sound. There were actually two of them, one of them was attacking Sheik at the shore, and the other one was heading straight at him.

"Well great" Link muttered. He sprinted towards the shore and grabbed his sword. The bird thing dove straight at him. Link was caught off guard and stumbled to the ground. He landed face first in the sand.

"Eww…" Link groaned as he pushed himself to his hands and knees. "sand tastes terrible" he said, spitting sand out of his mouth.

"LINK!!" Sheik yelled "FOCUS!!"

Link rolled over, ready to strike the bird thing, when it fell dead at his side. He poked it, before pulling his hand away. He looked up at Sheik, who was wiping the blood of his weapon.

"Did you… kill it?" Link asked, standing up.

"I kind of had to, considering you were too busy coughing up sand to fight it"

"Sorry," Link whispered

Sheik started laughing.

"What?" Link asked

"Nothing," Sheik said "it's just kind of funny how much you reminded me of…" he stopped, eyes going wide.

"Of who?" Link asked

"Of me…" Sheik whispered.

"What?"

* * *

Sheik rubbed his head and sat down on the rock that happened to be nearby.

"What do you mean?" Link asked "how did I remind you of you?"

"I… I don't know" Sheik lied, but he did know. Link had the same look on his face when he apologized to Sheik as Sheik had when he apologized for doing something wrong back at the Village. Tears started forming in his eyes and he turned away.

"Sheik… you okay?" Link asked.

"I'm fine" Sheik said, wiping his eyes. He was angry. He was angry at himself for getting so emotional over something so stupid.

"Do you think we should start on home?" Link asked. Sheik nodded and stood up.

"If we hurry we might be able to make it home before nightfall" he said.

And before long the two were on the road that lead back to Kakariko.


	8. Chapter 8

i know, it's been a while, and all you out there reading this story, i appologize for the really late update!!

* * *

-Chapter 8-

_The fields went by in a blur. The wind blew hard in his face, making his eyes water. He leaned forward on his horse, leaving his back open to the fierce heat of the sun. But the sun felt good, because it meant he was on the road again._

_Dust flew up beneath the thundering of his horse's feet, signaling he had entered Kakariko. But this was just a short cut. It would have been easier just to go through Castle Town, but horses weren't allowed in._

_The fields were there again, and he thundered across them, ignoring everything in his path. They didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was on the road again._

_And boy did that feel good._

"You sure learn quick" the voice pulled him back to reality. Link looked at who had spoken. It took him a second to recognize who it was, but then he smiled.

"Yeah, I guess I do" Link said, pulling his horse to a halt.

Sheik laughed. He was leaning against the fence, just watching, but apparently having a good time. He did seem more laid back than usual, though. "So what are you going to name the horse?" he asked.

"What?" Link asked "doesn't already have a name?"

Sheik shrugged "apparently not, Maria over here said they never got around to it."

"Oh" Link looked at the girl, Maria apparently, and asked "Is that true?"

She nodded.

Link jumped off the horse and stroked its golden mane softly. "Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked.

"A girl" Maria laughed

"Ah. Hang on, why am I naming it?" Link asked

"It's a birthday present for you silly" Maria said

Link looked at Sheik, who just shrugged. "From who?"

"You're father" Maria said

Link's eyes went wide, and he stared at the girl in shock. "What?"

"I don't know. That's what my father told me though."

Link looked at the horse, and suddenly he knew what to name it. "Hello LiteHart" he whispered.

* * *

Sheik leaned back on the fence again, getting slightly tired of watching Link riding his new horse. He turned to Maria, who was leaning on the opposite side of the fence.

"He's good isn't he?" she asked

Sheik nodded. "Better than I would have expected."

"So what about you," Maria asked "do you ride?"

"Of course I do" Sheik laughed "what makes you think that I wouldn't?"

"I don't know, you just don't look like you would" Maria said nervously.

Sheik laughed, he seemed to have that affect on people a lot recently. Everyone got nervous when he asked them something "And Link does?"

Maria shrugged.

The sun was hot, and a small wind stirred the grass. The only sound was Link riding LiteHart around the ranch, and even that seemed quieter than usual.

"Do you usually talk this much to strangers?" Maria asked quietly

"No…" Sheik said, wondering where she was going with this. He turned towards her, and realized that her face was closer to his than it had been moments before. He backed away.

She turned away quickly, and Sheik could just see her blush. He rolled his eyes, girls these days!!

The sun was starting to set in the distance. Sheik squinted at it, and then called "come on Link! You've been riding long enough, we should be off!!"

Link pulled his horse to a halt, and looked at Sheik. "Aww…" he complained "Do we have to?" Sheik merely nodded. Link sighed and jumped off his horse. He led it to the stables. Sheik waited for him to get back.

"Boy am I tired" Link said as he came back. Sheik just rolled his eyes at him.

"Hey…" Maria said "it is getting late, and the trip back to Kakariko-"

"Is short enough that we'll get back before it's too late" Sheik said, cutting her off.

"Well… but…" Maria whispered

"Why not?" Link asked Sheik "why can't we stay for just one night?"

"Won't you're mother be worried about you though?"

Link shook his head "I'm sure she won't mind"

"That's what you think" Sheik said under his breath

"What?" Link asked

"Nothing, nothing at all" Sheik said

"Besides" Maria said "I heard there were monsters out at night"

"Well whoever told you that is a liar" Sheik muttered

"What?" Maria asked

"Oh! Nothing" Sheik said

"Even if there were" Link said "I'm sure we could handle it. Right Sheik?" he punched Sheik's shoulder.

"Yeah!" Sheik said, rubbing his shoulder. Link's punches had started hurting.

"Oh but look!" Maria exclaimed, pointing at the already set sun "all this arguing has kept us up later than need be! There's no way you could get home in time now!"

"I think we'll be fine" Sheik said

"And won't you just be back tomorrow anyways?" Maria asked "I'm sure Link wants to ride his horse some more."

"I know I'll be back, and staying here just seems easier than going back, getting a few hours of sleep and then just coming back here." Link said "I think I'll stay."

Sheik sighed. He always seemed to be fighting a losing battle.

"You don't have to stay Sheik" Maria said "just head off if you don't want to stay so badly. Spend the whole night by yourself--"

"Fine" Sheik muttered, annoyed. Maria beamed.

"Come on, I'll need to tell my dad before he falls asleep. Otherwise you'll end up sleeping in hay, and I'm sure you don't want that. Are you hungry? I would think you would be. When was the last time you ate anyways?" Maria's rambling went on

"Happy?" Sheik hissed in Link's ear

"She certainly is" Link whispered back, smiling. He followed Maria into the house.

Sheik sighed, but nevertheless followed.


	9. Chapter 9

-Chapter 9-

Sheik woke up with an ache in his back the next morning. He had ended up sleeping in the hay that night, due to certain… circumstances. It was the sound of hooves that had woke him, and he knew without even opening his eyes that Link was already out riding.

Sheik stared at the ceiling of the barn for a few moments before getting up. He brushed excess hay off his clothing, and headed outside.

Maria was already there, watching Link ride around with mild interest but as soon as Sheik drew nearer she perked up and said:

"There you are!! I thought you were going to sleep the day away!" Maria was already talking a mile a minute "You've missed breakfast already, but if you're hungry I can go make you somethi-"

"I'm good" Sheik said, cutting her off.

"You sure? I thought, considering how much Link ate, you would have been hungry."

"I'm fine" Sheik said quickly, before she could get much more out. He hopped over the fence and waved Link down. Link stopped and looked down at Sheik.

"Yeah?" he asked

"As much as I'd love to sit here all day and watch you ride your new horse I have things I need to do, so I'll be off." Sheik said

"Alright" Link replied and then he was off again. Sheik hopped back over the fence and headed to the exit.

"You leaving?" Maria asked as Sheik walked by her to leave.

"Yup" he replied

"Okay… bye then…" Maria said

"Bye" Sheik put his hand on the gate that lead out to push it open

"Wait!" Maria called, grabbing his arm "before you go…" she kissed him on the cheek before quickly backing away, blushing.

Sheik ignored the fact of what just happened, and tried hard to hide his shock and disgust. _Of all things… _he thought _and more importantly, of all people, why her?_

He pushed the thought to the side and headed off to where he needed to go.

* * *

Earlier that morning:

"Grass, endless fields of green grass. Cutting through the grass were the worn dirt paths that every traveler took. Then the forests, endless mazes of green trees, they would go on until they reached the end of Hyrule.

"And there in the south stood the mountains, crowning the edges of Kakariko, Death Mountain standing higher than them all, the top hidden by the clouds. Beyond the mountains was the endless desert, a beauty all of its own.

"The lake was far north, its water quiet and blue, flowing from the legendary Zora's Domain. Snow Peak towered over it.

"And the best part… the best part is that I had it all to myself. Nothing but me, my horse, and the open fields. I traveled far and wide, searching from corner to corner of Hyrule for something. I had no idea what it was, but it must have been important. I was fighting monsters and running for my life to escape them.

"But they would never stop. Always chasing me, always showing up where I least expected them. It was scary, and amazing." He leaned back in his chair, satisfied that he had told his story so well.

"Wow!" Maria said from across the table (they were eating breakfast) "do you have dreams like this all the time?"

Link shook his head "not always. But it's great when I do."

"That reminds me! Where's Sheik?" Maria asked

"I don't know" Link replied with a shrug "I didn't think he was one to sleep in. Maybe he already left."

"Yeah" Maria said, letting out an annoyed huff of air. "I wouldn't put it past him if he did."

Link shrugged, but said nothing more. He was caught up in the dream again, thinking of the beauty of Hyrule and how great it would have been if he was free to just ride across it. But his mother wasn't too happy about him going much farther out of Kakariko than the Ranch, and even forbade him from nearing the any of the forests besides the one that was in between Kakariko and Castle Town.

"You want to go back and ride your horse don't you?" Maria asked. Link started to say no but he realized that doing so would make him a liar. He did indeed want to go ride his horse, so he nodded.

And before long he had LiteHart saddled up and was riding her again. LiteHart actually seemed quite happy about it, but maybe she was just picking up Link's joyous mood.

* * *

"_You!!_" a voice from behind him hissed and a hand grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him into the alleyway.

Sheik pulled away and turned around, eyes blazing, ready for a fight. All he found was Link's mother. She was wearing her tattered cloak over her clothes, her hair was a mess and her eyes were weary.

"Where's Link?" she asked

"Back at the Ranch" Sheik replied "riding his new horse"

"Horse? When did he get a horse?" Link's mother asked, the look of concern on her face getting urgent.

"I don't know" Sheik replied nervously. The look Link's mother was giving him was starting to freak him out "Maria said that it was from his father"

Link's mother's eyes went wide with shock. "That's impossible. There is no way his father could have gotten it to him. His father's dead, and has been for at least a few years."

"It's entirely possible that he brought the horse to the ranch a few years ago with instructions to give it to Link when he came by." Sheik said hopefully "I mean, Link hasn't been to the ranch before has he?"

Link's mother shook her head. "No he hasn't" she said, starting to look relieved "so what does it look like?"

Sheik smiled "It's a beautiful snow white mare, with a golden mane."

"And what did he name her?"

Sheik paused "Uhh…" he said "I think he named her Light Heart or something."

A look of shock and worry returned to Link's mother's face. "What?" Sheik asked "It's not important is it?"

Link's mother shook her head "not at all" she said. Sheik could tell she was lying through her teeth though.


	10. Chapter 10

here's chapter ten, all nice, edited and redone!! sorry for the delay and all, and the scare from the original chapter ten i put up, but rewriting an entire chapter off of nothing but a crappy version is hard. anyways, chapter ten's all fixed!!

* * *

-Chapter 10-

"Hey, mom" Link said walking slowly into the kitchen "I want to ask you something…" he took a deep breath, hesitant about what he was about to say "Something about dad" he finished. But as soon as he had said it instantly wished he hadn't, because his mom nearly dropped the plate she was putting away.

"What do you want to ask sweetie?" she said, not turning to look at him.

"I want to know why I got a horse from him" Link muttered, now feeling really bad.

"Honestly, I want to know that myself" his mother replied

"You don't know?"

"Well I have a few good reasons why" his mother said, busying herself with cleaning the kitchen counter to avoid looking at her son "I'm personally wondering how, though" she muttered through clenched teeth.

"What do you mean?" Link asked, sitting down at the table "if you don't mind me asking of course, since we are on the subject."

Link's mother sighed "I knew this day would come eventually" she whispered, her head hung low. She pulled a chair up and sat down, her eyes staring at the table, refusing to look up at her son. "You're father was a great man, Link, and I loved him so much…"

"And…" Link urged. He felt almost guilty asking it, but he had gotten this far on the topic already, and wasn't going back now.

"You wouldn't remember him; he left shortly after you were born" his mom said quietly "I almost wish you could, you two are so much alike." A faint smile played across her lips "I asked him to stay, but he insisted that there was something that he had to find. He left, searching for it."

"Did he ever find it?" Link asked

"I don't think he did" his mother responded, and Link saw a tear fall down her cheek. "They found his body, two years ago, in a country just outside of here. He's dead now."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Link asked

"I don't know, I guess I just thought…" she was crying hard now, and Link felt really, really, _really_ bad. He rushed over and hugged her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to. Sorry…"

"It's fine, it was a fair question to ask, and I should have told you. I honestly wanted to just forget about it all myself…" she took a deep, shaky breath "I'm fine now sweetie, you can let go…"

Link let go of his mother and smiled. She smiled back, though it was a heartbroken smile.

"You would have loved you're father" she said "he was a brilliant man, and he probably could have given you a fair sword fight. Not to mention a run for your money if you got into a shooting contest."

Link smiled "he sounds like a great man." After a moment of silence he said "I'm going to go, I don't know, practice my shooting or something," and he left.

Link's mother smiled as he went. Her son could always tell when she could use her space, just like his father did. "If only he could see our son now," she thought aloud.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. She went to answer it. Who she found at the door definitely wasn't someone she was expecting to see. "Zelda?" she said, utterly confused.

"Hi," Zelda said, waving. Sheik grinned from behind her.

* * *

They all sat around the kitchen table moments later, each with a cup of tea. "So tell me," Link's mother asked, sipping her tea "what brings you two here?"

"I have something to say about Link" Zelda said.

"And I'm only here because they wouldn't let her out of the Castle alone." Sheik added

"So what do you have to say about Link?"

"Well," Zelda said "we're going to need him, like soon."

"Need him for what?" Link's mother asked, starting to look worried

"We need him to be a hero" Zelda said, and she watched with a bit of guilt as Link's mother blanched "I know, sooner than we would have all wanted. But evil is awakening, and we need him to be ready."

"Isn't he ready enough?" Link's mother asked

"Yes, he's ready, but one small problem" Zelda began, but Sheik finished for her:

"He's not equipped."

"You know he can't get the Master Sword right?"

Zelda rolled her eyes "what do you think I've been doing for the past three or so years? I've been finding something to replace it. Haven't found anything really, but we're going to send him to get the Light Arrows."

"When?" Link's mother asked

"As soon as possible" Sheik replied

"Have you informed him?"

"Haven't gotten around to it yet"

"And honestly," Zelda added "we kind of hoped he would already be here so we could tell both of you at the same time. But"

"It didn't work as well as we had hoped" Sheik said before Zelda could finish. She looked at him and he just smiled, shrugged, and took a drink of tea.

"Right…" Link's mother looked at the two of them

"Did Link say where he was going?" Zelda asked

"Practice his shooting," Link's mother said quickly "I think…"

"That's just great" Sheik said, standing up "oh well, finding him shouldn't be too hard. Let's go Zel,"

Zelda stood up "Bye then, and thanks for the tea!" she called before she and Sheik left.

"Your welcome!!" Link's mother called after them. _When did Sheik start calling Zelda, Zel? _she wondered. This odd feeling was creeping up on her that something was up between the two of them…

* * *

"There he is!" Zelda said, pointing. Link was at the Kakariko shooting range practicing hitting moving targets. Sheik and Zelda ran over.

"Told you I could find him" Zelda told Sheik

"You never said a word" Sheik replied.

"Prin— er… Zelda!" Link said, "what brings you here?"

"You know how I told you like a year ago that you were going to be a hero?" Zelda began, Link nodded "well, time's come!!" she grinned

"Really?" Link's eyes widened "what do I do?! What does a hero do!?" he started to panic.

Sheik put a hand on Link's shoulder, calming him down "you need to go find the Light Arrows."

"And how do I do that?" Link asked

"Snow Peak" Zelda said "they're on Snow Peak. Sheik will fill you in on details and stuff, and help you on your quest." She watched, smiling slightly, as Link started firing questions at Sheik. It was funny seeing how different they were. Sheik was an inch or so taller, and his hair was a lighter blond, not to mention the fact that his eyes had a twinkle in them, saying he was just ready for anything. Link's eyes, on the other hand, usually betrayed confusion or amazement. Sheik also seemed more sure of himself, Link tended to act before thinking, and ask a few too many questions.

"So when do I start?" Link asked

"As soon as you like" Sheik replied

"So I start now?"

"Hang on," Zelda said quickly before Sheik could say anything "don't you want to, I don't know, see your mother before you go? Get a good night's rest, prepare food, and make sure you have enough arrows… You know, get supplies and stuff."

"Good idea" Sheik and Link replied at the same time.

"Let's go!" Link said, running toward home. Sheik followed.

"Boys," Zelda laughed, before heading back to the Castle.


	11. Chapter 11

sorry for so late of an update... been caught up in all the excitement as summer came 'round, so don't kill me... kay

* * *

-Chapter 11-

"Hey mom," Link said, throwing the door open.

"I already know" she replied before Link could say anything.

"You do?"

"Mmm-hmm" his mother replied

"Oh…" Link said, slightly downtrodden "and you're okay with it?"

"'Course I am. Not like I can stop you or anything. Besides, I think it would be good for you. You need a little adventure in your life, going out, fighting evil, and the running! Gotta love the running." she smiled a heartbroken smile.

"Eh?" Link raised his eyebrows

"Sorry… you need anything before you go?"

"No, I think I'm good. Just wanted to let you know." he headed back out the door. "That was easy." He told Sheik.

"Come on then, to Snow Peak" Sheik said "well actually, you're off to Snow Peak. I'm not coming."

"I thought you said you coming"

"Do you honestly need me?"

Link looked at Sheik, thinking about it for a second "well, I guess not…"

"Exactly" Sheik patted Link on the shoulder and grinned. Link smiled back.

"See you then!" Link said, waving before heading to the Ranch to get his horse.

"Bye!" Sheik called

"Come on girl, almost there!" Link said, looking at his map. He urged his horse on. LiteHart had started slowing down the closer they got to Snow Peak. "Come on… please" Link pleaded. But LiteHart had stopped and refused to go any farther. Link frowned and jumped off.

"On your head then. You can stay here, don't worry about me." She just whinnied, Link scowled at her and then trudged off into the snow.

_Okay, Sheik had said the temple entrance was at the bottom of the mountain, _Link thought, _so where is it?_ After an annoying amount of time in the freezing cold he managed to find the entrance. Hoping that inside was warmer than outside, he rushed in.

The temple was carved out of the mountain, with millions of winding tunnels heading off in different directions.

"Holy cow" Link muttered, his voice echoing oddly in the main cavern "where to start?"

He investigated the main cavern for a bit, only to find a sign that read: _you'll find you're prize where the light is brightest. But beware the darkest corners, for they will be your downfall._

Link got worried after reading this, but then discarded the thought. "What do I have to worry about?" he asked to thin air "I'm the only person who has been here in thousands of years." He grinned cockily and started down one of the tunnels. He didn't make it much farther than five feet before millions of bats just flew in from nowhere and attacked him. He disposed of then quickly "of course, there are bats in caves…" he muttered to himself "and there are likely to be more of them."

He continued, much more cautious than he had been before.

Sheik sat in the middle of Hyrule field, enjoying the unusual peace. He couldn't help but laugh as he thought of where Link probably was now, but then immediately felt sorry for doing so. Even though the image that came to mind was quite amusing. Link, being attacked by a bunch of bats, and screaming like a little girl.

Sheik felt even guiltier after thinking about it. Link was a great warrior, and a good friend. _So why am I laughing at him?_ Sheik thought. He sighed, and admitted to himself _because now that he's gone I'm bored, and there's honestly nothing else to do. _He rethought about what he had just thought and then made a face _when did I become so mean?_ He asked himself.

He pulled the book he had borrowed from the Library a while ago from his belt and flipped through it. He stopped on this one poem, which he had thought odd before and reread it.

_A silent shadow sneaks through the silent temple_

_Defeating all the enemies in his path_

_He need not to face them_

_He can attack from just around the corner_

_Some call him cowardly_

_But he thinks himself smart_

Sheik frowned. It wasn't that he didn't like free verse or anything, but the entire style of this poem was just odd. He shut the book, dismissing the entire poem, and stood up, sticking the book back in his belt.

_Maybe I'll go see Zelda…_ he thought, heading towards the Castle.

Annoyed, Zelda nearly threw the book she was reading across the room. She moaned though instead, deciding it would be a better idea than destroying a really old book. She was officially sick and tired of being able to find nothing.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Zelda called, trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

"What got you so mad?" Sheik asked, sticking his head in.

"You perfectly well know what" Zelda replied, glaring at him "there is now way Link is going to be able to do ANYTHING with only the Light Arrows, and there is NOTHING in any book in the dang Library! And it's the biggest library in Hyrule!"

"Sorry I asked" Sheik whispered, coming in and sitting down in a chair.

"You have any ideas?" Zelda asked him

"Why would I?"

"I don't know, I was just wondering if maybe the Sheikah knew anything and were keeping it quiet or something."

Sheik frowned at her "not that I know of, no…" Zelda sighed. Sheik's mind wandered back to the poem and his eyes lit up. "Hang on, maybe I do have something." He pulled out the book and flipped to the page and began to read:

"_A silent shadow sneaks through the silent temple_

_Defeating all the enemies in his path_

_He need not to face them_

_He can attack from just around the corner_

_Some call him cowardly_

_But he thinks himself smart"_

He stopped reading and looked up at Zelda, who was glaring at him more fiercely. "That does me no good!" she said "it doesn't even make sense, and how is that poetry anyways?"

"Free verse" Sheik replied "and no, it doesn't really make sense. But then I got to thinking, what if it's not supposed to be poetry, but a riddle?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"Let's see… the first part is: 'a silent shadow sneaks through the silent temple.' The shadow, could be say… one of the Shadow Folk, a Sheikah. And the Temple could be the Shadow Temple."

"Right, but so how does that help us?"

"I think that, maybe… it's describing a weapon with at least the next two phrases." Sheik continued

"What weapon fits the description though?" Zelda asked

"Well, what weapon can you defeat enemies with when you're around the corner?"

Zelda looked long and hard at the wall, as if it secretly held the answer she was looking for. "A boomerang…" she said after a moment, and then turned back to Sheik "so what you're trying to tell me is that there's a boomerang hidden in the depths of the Shadow Temple, and Link should go find that."

Sheik shrugged "best idea as any isn't it?"

Zelda nodded her head "Yeah, I guess it is."

There was a moment of silence between them before Sheik said "well, now that we're a step ahead of ourselves… do you think you could take a break?" upon seeing the confused look on Zelda's face he added "I mean, you've been researching for how long now? I think you deserve a nice break."

"Well yeah, I guess a break would be nice. Why are you bringing this up?"

"Well I thought, I don't know… we could go do something." Sheik said

"Kay" Zelda replied


	12. Chapter 12

sorry for the late update (or at least, i think it's late) i've been writing another fanfic and it's been kind of taking up all my time. I won't abandon this story though! I promise!

* * *

There was a knock on her door. Utterly confused about the thought of who could possibly be here to visit, Link's mother went to answer it. When she saw who it was, her jaw nearly dropped in shock. After a minute of stunned silence she finally managed to ask: "what are you doing here?"

The Queen, who happened to be the one standing in the doorway, replied with a question of her own "seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously! What are you doing here?"

"Seriously? This is how you greet your Queen?"

Link's mother flashed a small smile at her "Queen or not, you're still my little sister." She rolled her eyes "now get inside before I make a fool of myself." She stood aside so the Queen could come in.

"So, why are you here?" Link's mother said again.

"I was worried about you."

"Really? You've got an entire country to worry about and you're here, worrying about me. Why?"

"You're son's off on an adventure, and considering what happened when he was a boy…" the Queen trailed off, but continued quickly "I thought you would be worried."

"Look, I knew it was going to happen eventually, so what should I be worried about?"

"Each moment he's out there could bring him closer to the Master Sword" the Queen replied "I thought you would be worried sick."

"Even if I was, what could I do about it? Tell him to stop? Put Hyrule at risk just for my son's safety? You honestly think I would do that?"

The Queen shook her head.

"That's what I thought" Link's mother said, sitting down at the table. After a minute of silence the Queen slowly sat down too.

"Do you miss him?" she asked quietly after a moment.

"Miss who?" Link's mother replied "my son? Why would I miss my son? He's going to back any day now."

"No, I didn't mean him"

"Oh," Link's mother turned away, breath caught in her chest. It had been forever since she had heard that question "his father…" she managed after a moment.

The Queen waited with baited breath, wondering if her sister would answer. Link's mother finally said after a moment "why are you bringing that up now?"

The Queen, taken aback by this question, didn't respond. Link's mother asked, again "why, of all times, are you bringing that up now!" her voice rose slightly, but was pained. The Queen stared at her in disbelief and started to sputter an answer, but she was never given the chance. "He's dead, and you're asking if I miss him!"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"

"No, it's fine. I'm fine." Link's mother said, trying to smile. Then she remembered something, that she wasn't too sure if the Queen was aware of. "By the way, have you noticed anything odd going on between your daughter and a certain young Sheikah boy?"

"Zelda and Sheik? Well, now that you mention it…" the Queen laughed

* * *

Zelda and Sheik were at the lake, skipping rocks. "Just like old times, huh?" Sheik asked tossing another one.

Zelda laughed "that was only two years ago" she said

"Really? It's felt like longer." Sheik stated, tossing yet another rock. He laughed and so did Zelda after a minute.

"Yeah, it has" she said "to think, that only two years ago, I was worried sick about this entire issue, and here I am, laughing my head off with you."

"I wonder how Link's coping" Sheik said suddenly "it's different fighting a monster than it is fighting a regular person. There's really no strategy involved, all you honestly have to do is whack them over the head." He made a face.

"He'll be fine!" Zelda said "what's the worst that could happen to him?"

"He could trip over a rock and lands flat on his face and then get's attacked by monsters" Sheik replied, laughing as he said the last few words. Zelda laughed with him, but stopped after realizing what the worst thing probably was.

"Or," she said quite solemnly "he could find the Master Sword"

"That would be bad…" Sheik said "imagine what would happen to him."

"I'd rather not. Just the idea of having your brain blow up from that gives me the shudders, and that's without having to picture it."

"Scratch that, imagine what would happen to me!" Sheik said "I think his mother would kill me!"

"That'd be fun to watch" Zelda muttered, Sheik punched her in the shoulder playfully.

"Hey! It wouldn't be so much fun for me!"

"I bet I could sell tickets, make a fortune" Zelda went on, if only to make Sheik even more annoyed "even come up with a good title: An Angry Mother Against a Poor Defenseless Sheikah. Nah, you're not defenseless! I'd have to think of something else" she grinned at him.

"You're cruel" Sheik said, glaring at her.

"No, I'm expressing myself, been doing nothing but reading for the past two years. I should have taken a break more often. You should have offered sooner! Then maybe we would have avoided this problem in the first place"

"Well tough!" Sheik replied, crossing his arms.

Zelda laughed and got a handful of water and splashed him.

"Hey!"

She only laughed harder.

"You asked for it!" Sheik said then, jumping into the water. Within the next five minutes both princess and Sheikah were soaked, but both seemed incredibly happy about it.

* * *

"Finally!" Link said, grabbing the Light Arrows from their resting spot "and it only took me 2 and a half days! I think…" he looked around, frowned and then asked to thin air: "now how the heck do I get out of here?"


	13. Chapter 13

okay, so it's a bit short, whatever. I sat myself down and forced myself to write this.

with summer starting though, my updates will probably be more frequent, although it also makes me feel like I'm late every time I update because they aren't terribly frequent. I'm doing my best though

* * *

Sheik was at the Ranch, hoping maybe to find Link there returning his horse. When he arrived he found Link's horse there, but no Link to be found.

"Hey Maria" he called

"Yeah?" she said, looking up from her book "oh hi Sheik! What do you need?" she hastily shut the book and stood up

"Well I was wondering; has Link been around?"

"No…" she said slowly, giving him an odd look for a second "oh, right. His horse is here. She ran back yesterday. I hope Link's not too far out, or he won't be back any time soon."

"Yeah…" Sheik said

"Well, if Link is the only reason you came then I guess you're going to have to go. He's obviously not around"

"Yeah, I'll go th-" Sheik was cut off by a sudden scream of:

"THERE'S MY HORSE!"

"Found Link!" Maria said happily

Sheik muttered something unintelligible to himself before heading in the direction Link's voice had come from. "Please tell me you're only here because you found the light arrows" he said as soon as Link was in sight.

"Course I am!" Link replied, petting his horse "this was only my first stop because I was wondering where the crap my horse was. I found her though!" he grinned.

"Yeah yeah, good for you" Sheik said "how soon can you be ready to set off again?"

Link paused at that "Not long, I wanted to at least check in on my mom first, and maybe blow some money. You want to know how much I found in that temple? Three stinking hundred rupees. But, I'm not complaining, there was this nice thing I wanted to buy as a birthday present to my mom."

Sheik sighed "right, but hurry up. I'll meet you on that hill just outside Kakariko."

"kay!" and with that, Link was off.

* * *

It wasn't until it was nearing sunset that Link finally arrived. Sheik glared at his approaching figure. "That wasn't quick!" he called once Link was in earshot.

"Sorry" Link said "I had a hard time convincing the store owner I didn't steal all this money from someone."

Sheik rolled his eyes at this comment. "You ready to go?" he asked

"Yeah, where am I going?"

"Shadow temple, nice weapon in there that might be useful"

"Sweet" Link said

"I'm coming with you" Sheik said

"What for?"

"Shadow temple, my territory. I bet you wouldn't last a second alone anyways."

"You underestimate me!"

"I'd rather have you mad at me than dead. Your mother would kill me if you died" he grimaced at the thought

"I see, this is all for your own selfish reasons"

"No!" Sheik said quickly

"Whatever" Link replied, rolling his eyes, "Let's go"

Sheik sighed, and with that the two were off.

* * *

After a while they arrived at the Shadow Temple, and both ended up being amazed at the sight. It was made completely out of stones and towered high above them. There was a large archway leading in, and above the archway was a bunch of odd symbols. The symbol that stood out the most though was the symbol of the Sheikah, the Eye.

Sheik took in the appearance of the temple for a bit before grinning.

"You ready for this?" he asked, turning to Link.

"Course I am" Link replied, though he didn't sound so sure

"You better be" Sheik said, heading into the temple.

They were assaulted by darkness upon entering. It was pitch black, and impossible to see a thing. Or, for Link it was anyways. Sheik could see, not a whole ton, but plenty enough. He maneuvered his way over to one of the walls, and ran his hand along it for a second before pressing hard on one specific spot. In that instant the torches placed all around the room lit up.

"Wicked…" Link muttered

Sheik couldn't help but grin.

Link looked at each of the doors that he could now see. "Which door?" he asked, scowling.

Sheik looked at the doors also, and after a minute said "that one's fake, that one's fake, that one's an illusion and this one's locked" he pointed at a few different doors in turn, then gestured to the two that were left "it's between these two."

Link did his best not to be amazed at Sheik's sudden knowledge of what was and what wasn't in the temple. He looked at the two doors that were left "the one on the right" he said slowly. When he noticed the odd look Sheik was giving him Link added "it just feels like the right way to go."

"Okay" Sheik said, and the two of them took that door deeper into the temple.

The next room was small and only had a note on one wall. It read:

"Whoever is reading this, be warned! The temple ahead of you is filled with traps and dangers! Each room gets more dangerous. It is only a test of wits and strength; if you are weak at heart do not continue! Only one who passes each test ahead is worthy of the treasure hidden deep inside."

The two boys looked at each other. "We've got this" they both said, grinning.


	14. Chapter 14

i feel the need to appoligize that this is late. though, the need is reasonable, considering i took a two day break off of all my currently going fanfics to write another one. Also, i have recently required Kingdom Hearts and have been playing that instead of writing.

oh well, i like the way this chapter came out, though it is nearly midnight, so my brain probably isn't working as well as it should be. if you find anything wrong with this chapter, let me know... i'll fix it

* * *

Zelda was in the library again, looking through a section of books labeled: "Magic Items and Charms" hoping that maybe she might find something there. Of course, chances were slim, but one could hope.

Of course, the only things she found were not useful, or unattainable. "Crystal Stars, what good will those do? Ice charms, water charms, air charms" she continued muttering to herself, hoping that something would sound better out loud then in her head.

"P-princess" a voice said from next to her. Zelda stopped her muttering and turned, seeing a young servant boy at least two years younger than her standing there holding a book.

"Yeah?" she asked

"I uhh… I" the servant boy stuttered. He swallowed, "I-I think I m-might have f-found something th-that might be u-useful." He opened the book and handed it to Zelda. She took it, and looked at the passage that the book was open to.

It was about fire charms. One of them in particular though, which she assumed was what the boy had been looking at, was a charm that would turn your sword into a flaming sword. Before she could look into details further though, she decided it would be a great idea to thank this boy.

"Thank you" she told him "I think this will be very useful."

The boy nodded, bowed, and ran off, causing a small smile to form on Zelda's face. It seemed the older she was getting, the more nervous people became around her. She turned her attention back to the book she had been given.

The information on this fire charm was very helpful, and even included its location. _It may not be some legendary weapon to replace the Master Sword, but it sure will be dang useful if we can't find anything _Zelda decided after a moment, and then decided to go do something else.

* * *

"LINK YOU IDIOT!" Sheik yelled suddenly

"What?" Link asked, turning around. He then noticed that the lever he had just pulled had caused a cave in, and the ceiling above their heads was threatening to fall any second now. "Oh…"

"Come on!" Sheik said as he ran past Link. Link hurried to catch up and avoid the rocks that were now falling from the ceiling. Somehow they managed to outrun the cave in. They stood there, catching their breath and coughing up dust.

"Gotta love the running" Link coughed, causing Sheik to give him an odd look.

"Eh?"

"Oh… uh… nothing…"

Sheik sighed, coughed, then looked at the massive pile of rocks that lay behind them and grimaced. "Let's hope we don't need to go back that way."

Link, however, cast his gaze up and grinned. "No, I don't think we need to. It seems that what we're looking for was right above our heads, and now we don't have to go through any more rooms to reach it."

Sheik looked up too, and then at back at the pile of rubble. "Are you suggesting we climb up that pile of rocks?"

Link turned and laughed at his friend. "Are you kidding me? Of course I am! Where's that little sense of adventure? You were the one who climbed a wall when we were kids. How different is that than this?"

"Umm… that was more stable…"

"And this will be easier to climb"

Sheik said nothing in response

"Don't tell me you're chicken!" Link laughed

"Of course I'm not!"

"Then stop your complaining. Let's go!" Link said, and then began his climb up the pile of rocks to the level above them. Wearily, Sheik followed.

"You know" Sheik said about half way up or so "your sudden need for adventure is starting to scare me a bit. Any idea where it came from?"

Link paused, thinking about that for a second. "No" he replied, continuing his way up.

That, of course, wasn't the answer Sheik was hoping for. Though, what answer he was looking for was a complete mystery, so maybe Link saying that he had no idea was better than some other responses. But then again, not knowing wasn't all that good either, because it could easily mean that the hero inside him was finally coming out.

_It's probably nothing_, Sheik told himself, nearly losing his footing as he did so. _No other hero has had any problem with this._

_But, none of them were like Link…_

_Oh, what am I worrying about? It's nothing. It has to be._

"Um, Sheik?" Link said from above him

"Yeah?" he called up, maneuvering his way up the rest of the rocks.

"What exactly were we supposed to find at the end of this?"

"I don't know… a room with the treasure in it. Though if we had to fight a monster before that I wouldn't be surprised…"

"Well… I think I found the monster"

Sheik pulled himself out of the hole and stood up, looking around to see what Link's issue was. Apparently, the issue was a large, dark, blob. A blob that was inching slowly across the floor. Sheik took a step closer, and suddenly torches along the walls lit up. The blob slowly turned around, noticed them, and transformed into the shape of a large bird-like creature. A bird with two heads, though.

"Well then" Sheik said, and then turned to Link "shall we fight it or run? Even if it's supposed to be guarding the treasure, I'm sure we can get past it. We didn't come in the normal way exactly…"

Link stared at the bird thing for a minute or two, who was regarding him with caution. He then turned to Sheik, an odd glint in his eye. "I think we can take it."

"You sure?"

Link's only response was pulling out his sword. He charged the bird thing, letting out a fierce battle cry, and started attacking one of its heads. Sheik went over to the other head and started attacking it.

It seemed that Sheik's attacks were doing the most for some odd reason, and the bird didn't seem to be liking that so much. Finally it decided it had enough, and thrust its head at Sheik. Caught off guard, Sheik was knocked into the nearby wall.

Link took no notice of this at first, but then did notice when Sheik didn't get back up. He had been knocked unconscious by the blow. The bird let out what seemed to be a hearty laugh, and then transformed into a large snake, the snake only had one head, and that head was focused on Sheik at the moment.

Link picked up a nearby rock and chucked it at the snake's head, causing it to turn its attention to him. The snake then transformed into a wolf like creature and attacked Link.

Link fought the wolf furiously, but his attacks seemed to have little to no effect on it. It ran at him, and he knocked it to the side with his sword. It rolled, whimpering for a second, but then jumped back onto its feet and went to attack Link again.

On a whim, Link whipped out the Light Arrows. He shot the wolf, and managed to hit it near the heart somehow. The wolf was thrown back slightly by the impact, and then fell to the ground. Apparently dead, it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Glad that was over, Link rushed over to Sheik, who was regaining consciousness. "You alright?" Link asked. Sheik nodded.

"Fine"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, what got you so worried anyways?"

"It's my fault we got into this mess in the first place; I would have felt terrible if you had gotten hurt"

"Why…?"

Link shrugged.

"Hmm" Sheik said

Unknown to them, the monster Link had killed wasn't actually dead. It had now taken the form of a small garden snake (of sorts) and was slithering over to them.

"Ow!" Sheik cried suddenly

"What?"

"I don't know, felt like a snake bit me."

"Do you think it was poisonous?"

"Pain's gone now… probably wasn't anything. I did hit my head pretty hard."

Link stood up and offered a hand out to Sheik. He took it and pulled himself up.

"Thanks" he muttered.

"Now, where's that treasure we came here for in the first place?" Link asked, heading to a nearby door. On the other side of the door was a treasure chest, which contained the object they were searching for.

"The Shadow Boomerang" Sheik said

"Oddest weapon I've ever heard off" Link said

"Whatever, let's just get out of here"

"Good idea"

And with that, they left.


	15. Chapter 15

"Link! You're okay!"

Those happened to be the first words he heard upon arrival in Kakariko. Then, out of nowhere, someone ran up and hugged him.

"Uhh… mom?" Link said, totally confused.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Link's mother said, letting go of her son.

"Um, yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"As soon as I realized you had headed for the Shadow Temple, well…" she let out a sigh "It's just good to see you're alright. Darkness and our family don't tend to get along"

"Really?" Link asked "I mean, we did fight a pretty big battle, but Sheik was the one who got hurt, not me."

Link's mother turned to look at Sheik, who made a face.

"I don't know, Link" he said "what if the creature only wanted me out of the way so it could kill you without hurting me?"

"Well, like it matters," Link said "we both came out alive."

"Yes you did," Link's mother told them "now how about we got get some ice cream? My treat, I'm in a good mood today."

"I don't know…" Sheik said quietly "I've got a few things I need to be doing."

"Aw! Don't be such a party pooper, Sheik!" Link's mother laughed.

Sheik smiled. "Alright"

* * *

"I'm assuming you wanted to talk to me" Sheik said later. He looked at Link's mother, who was staring at something off in the distance. Link had gone off to do something.

Link's mother turned to look at Sheik. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

That wasn't the question he had been expecting. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Link said you got hurt"

"Well yeah, I hit my head, was probably unconscious for a while"

"You sure you're alright?"

Sheik nodded. Link's mother sighed, and a weary look returned to her eyes. She turned back to look at whatever she had been looking at before.

"Are you alright?" Sheik asked her.

She nodded. "Did Link ever act strange when you were in the temple?" she asked suddenly. Sheik paused to think about the question.

"He was a bit… reckless, and extremely excited about everything," he said. "Do you think that the Hero in him is finally awakening?"

"It's entirely possible, but… being his father's son, probably not. We just better hope he doesn't become too much like his father." She rubbed her head. "Or I could be entirely wrong and the hero in him _is _awakening, which would be really bad. I hate to ask you, but do you think you could keep an eye on him?"

"Yeah, sure" Sheik said. He glanced at the sun, which was getting close to setting. "I should probably get going; I still have to tell Zelda how things went."

"Might want to do that before it gets too late" Link's mother said, laughing a bit.

Sheik stood up and headed off, but paused after a few steps. "Thanks for the ice cream, by the way" he said.

"Don't tell Link that I stole the money from his stash" she replied.

Sheik laughed and then made his way to the Castle.

* * *

By the time Sheik found Zelda, the sun had already set halfway. She had been nowhere in the Castle, or the immediate surrounding areas. Zelda was on a hill a ways away from the castle.

"Should you be out here?" Sheik asked

"Probably not" Zelda replied, and laughed.

Sheik laughed too, and ran over to greet her.

"Pull up a patch of grass" she said. Sheik looked at her, and slightly reluctant, sat down next to the princess.

"How did things go?" Zelda asked

"Got the boomerang, Link's been getting more comfortable with odd situations, and I kind of got hurt."

"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?"

Sheik rolled his eyes and groaned. "Why does everyone ask? I'm perfectly fine, I only hit my head and…" he paused, and wondered briefly why he had started to mention the snake bite.

"And?" Zelda urged

"Got bitten by a snake" he finished

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Positive"

"But you got bitten by a snake"

"Well, maybe not…"

Zelda glared at him; she definitely wasn't convinced. "What was it then?"

"I don't know" Sheik admitted, "it _felt_ like a snake bite, but then it was just gone, like nothing had happened. I probably was just hallucinating or something. I did hit my head pretty hard."

Zelda sighed. She wasn't going to get any farther in this conversation. "What do you mean Link's getting more comfortable with odd situations?"

"I've already talked to his mother about it."

"And his mother's trusting my mother to trust me too help him on his quest. Are you sure he's fine? If we triggered any memories we are _so_ dead."

"He's fine" Sheik assured her.

"Are you fine?"

"Of course I am!" Sheik said angrily. "Stop asking me that!"

Zelda only laughed. This caused Sheik to grow angrier and embarrassed. He clenched his fists and turned away so Zelda couldn't see that his cheeks were flushing red hot.

"I was only teasing, gosh" Zelda said

Sheik took a deep breath and fought both anger and embarrassment down. After a minute he turned back to look at Zelda. She had turned away also. The sun had nearly finished setting, and bathed the land with an orange glow.

"Also, I've found the next weapon Link's going to get" Zelda said after a minute. "Well, not weapon exactly, it's a fire charm. It's supposed to make your sword catch fire or something."

"That sounds cool" Sheik said "but why do we need it?"

Zelda shrugged.

"There is one problem with it though…" she said slowly. "Its location is in the forest."

"Why the forest? If it's a fire charm shouldn't it be on Death Mountain or something?"

"How should I know. But that's not the problem. It's _extremely_ close to where the Master Sword is."

Sheik frowned. After a minute of thought he said: "I think I'll be able to keep him away from it."

Zelda looked at him. "You sure?"

He nodded.

The sun had set completely by now, and Sheik turned to Zelda.

"You should get back to the Castle before they send a search party looking for you or something" he told her.

"Yeah, that probably would be a good idea" she said.

Sheik stood up and held out a hand to her. Smiling at him, Zelda took it and pulled herself feet.

"Should I come with?" he asked

"If you want" she replied.

He gave a slight nod and the two headed back to the Castle.

* * *

Sheik left her at one of the side doors of the Castle, saying that he needed to get somewhere. Zelda didn't mind, it probably would have gone badly if they had shown up together.

"There you are!" one of the Castle guards said. He was one of the oldest around and probably the kindest. Thomas, his name was.

"Sorry, didn't mean to be out so late" she told him. If it had been any other guard that had greeted her, she would have told them that it was none of their business where she was and stormed off to settle things with her mother. Thomas was special though, he kept secrets, except those that he thought the Queen desperately needed to hear. And even then, if you asked him really nicely, he would keep those too.

"You weren't alone were you?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, I was with Sheik." Noticing the look on Thomas's face she added quickly: "not like that! We were just talking about how Link's quest is going."

Thomas laughed. "I still you think you're too young to be doing anything this big. You're only thirteen aren't you?"

"Fourteen" she corrected.

"Still too young. Neither your mother nor your aunt ever had to do anything like this. Though, neither of them knew Link at your age!" He let out a hearty laugh, and Zelda laughed too.

"That reminds me," Zelda said, "do you know who my aunt is?"

Thomas's eyes lit up at this question. "Your mother never told you? Shame on her!" he was grinning the entire time he said it. "You're going to get a kick out of who she is."

"Who is she?"

Thomas looked around to make sure no one was listening, and then leaned closer. Zelda leaned in to hear this great secret.

"Alice" he whispered.

Zelda gasped. "But that's-"

"Link's mother"

Thomas grinned again and looked at the young princess. Zelda was processing this information.

"I guess that makes some sense, but… what happened to her? She doesn't seem like she was once a princess at all!"

"That's the thing," Thomas said, "no one knows! She ran off with some guy one day, and we thought she would never come back! That's how your mother got the Kingdom. Alice was the older of the two them, so she should have technically got it."

"You're kidding me" Zelda said

"I'm not!"

"But if she ran off, why did she come back?"

Thomas shook his head. "I promised not to tell."

Zelda smiled at his honesty. That was the thing about Thomas; he could keep secrets and remain completely honest at the same time.

"But I can tell you this" he said, "she's only as sad as she is now because he died a few years ago. Apparently he was the man that you just couldn't kill, and he died in her arms." Thomas gasped quietly. "Oops, said a bit too much!"

Zelda ignored the last comment. "I guess that makes a lot of sense" she said sadly. She looked at the old guard. "You know, you make a great storyteller" she told him.

"Years of practice" Thomas replied, grinning. "Now you should get going to bed, princess."

"Zelda" she corrected.

He only smiled. "Just like her" he muttered, walking off to continue his guard duties.

Zelda couldn't help but smile too. Before, when he had said that, she had assumed he had meant just like her mother. But now she was starting to think otherwise. She was starting to think that he really meant just like her aunt.

Still digesting the massive amount of information that had been thrown her way, Zelda headed off to get some sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

taking a break from the usual "straight to the temple!" feel and getting a bit of character development done (at least, that's what I'm going with, I'm not sure if this is exactly that, but...)

also, in case you've forgotten, Link's mother's name is Alice. I've started just going ahead and calling her by her first name instead of referring to her as "Link's mother" because now that she's been established as Zelda's aunt, calling her only as Link's mother is a bit... I don't know... limited?

* * *

It was extremely early, or at least, it _felt_ extremely early. Whether it was or not is another story. Link's mother was idly stirring her cup of tea, which had gone cold a while ago, and thinking about things.

As usual though, her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "You've got to be kidding me" she muttered, and then yawned.

Too tired to actually get up and answer it, she called: "Who is it!"

"Umm… Zelda"

"Oh." She sighed, "come on in! It's not locked."

The door opened, and then Zelda walked in the room. "Oh, I didn't wake you, did I?" she asked.

"No, I've been up for a while. What brings you here?"

Zelda sighed, the sooner she got this over with the better. "I know you're my aunt" she said simply.

Link's mother, or Zelda's aunt, looked up at this. "Did your mother tell you? Or did you figure it out yourself?"

Zelda smiled. "Neither actually, Thomas told me."

"He's still around?" Link's mother, (or Zelda's aunt, but Zelda was still getting used to that fact, so…) asked, sounding a bit shocked. Zelda nodded. "Blimey, I need to go say hello then, it's been a while since we last talked."

There was a moment of silence, and then Zelda asked: "So, now that I know you're my aunt, what exactly should I call you?"

"Aunt Alice, Alice, Auntie, I don't really care." She looked at her niece and gave her a small smile. "Where are my manners though? Go on and sit down, I'll get you something to drink."

"Kay" Zelda said, and pulled up a chair.

"Would you like some tea?" Alice asked, head in a cupboard.

"No thanks" Zelda said.

"Milk, then?"

"Yes please"

Alice passed Zelda a glass of milk, and then started making another cup of tea for herself. "Did Thomas tell you anything else?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Well, he did say that you were supposed to be queen of Hyrule, but that didn't happen because you ran off with Link's father. And that Link's father is dead. That's about it though."

Alice stopped what she was doing and didn't say anything for a moment. She let out a small sigh, and then continued. "He didn't say much then, just told you what everyone knows."

"Yeah, I guess" Zelda said.

"Is there any particular reason why you came here?" Alice asked, sitting down with her cup of tea.

"Well yeah, actually," Zelda swallowed. "I was wondering, does it bother you that your younger sister got to be Queen of Hyrule instead of you?"

Alice laughed. "You think I ever actually wanted to rule Hyrule? Of course I didn't! Growing up, it had always seemed like a pain, and I usually avoided doing any royal duties as much as possible. I'm actually glad your mother got it."

Zelda smiled for some odd reason.

A bit of silence passed.

Zelda looked at her glass of milk, which was now empty. She wondered briefly when it had gotten that way. "Umm… I should probably get going" she said.

Her aunt just nodded, deep in thought. "Mmhmm"

Zelda stood up and left.

* * *

"Hey Link!" Sheik called, "I've got a quick question."

Link sat up, he had been trying to take a nap on a hill, but the plan was failing. "Yeah?" he asked.

"How long has it been since you've trained?"

"A while, but I have been fighting monsters a lot lately…"

"Want to go down to the Training Grounds at the Castle?"

"Do we have to sneak in?"

Sheik took a second to think about that. "No," he said after a moment.

"Then yes" Link said, getting to his feet. He picked up his sword and shield and threw them on his back. "Though, I must ask, isn't there some item I need to go get? Another temple to go through? Something?"

"All heroes need a break" Sheik told him, a slight grin on his face.

"Good point" Link replied. The two of them headed off to the Castle.

"Just like old times, eh Sheik?" Link asked, as he shot an arrow another target with perfect aim.

"Yeah," Sheik said, missing his own target. "Except you've gotten better."

"Not like I tried extremely hard, it just kind of happened."

Sheik sighed. "Good for you" he said sarcastically. He abandoned the bow he was shooting with and instead threw a few daggers. Each one hit its mark. Link flashed a grin his way.

"Cheater!" Link said, grinning.

"Like you're any better" Sheik replied, the same grin on his face. The two burst out laughing.

"Man I miss the old times!" Link laughed. "Back before I was a hero and when you weren't… well… whatever you've become now."

"You aren't exactly a hero yet. You haven't really saved anyone."

"Meh," Link shot another target. "I'm getting there."

They continued shooting targets in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

"I wonder what sort of evil I'll have to fight to save Hyrule" Link said after a while.

Sheik shrugged. "No clue." He didn't want to go much farther on this topic. If he were to mention any names of evil that had attacked Hyrule before it might trigger a memory of Link's and he didn't want to go down that path.

"Good point" Link said, his voice sounding a bit distant. "Things do seem a bit different this time around."

Sheik turned to look at him. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, a bit worried.

"What?" Link responded, looking around him. "I-I don't know! What did I even say?"

Sheik let out a small sigh of relief. "Nothing… I must of heard you wrong or something."

"Oh, okay."

"Yeah."

They went back to what they were doing.

* * *

It was later in the evening, after he and Link had stopped training, that we found Sheik sitting in a nearly empty room in the Castle. The only thing in that room was a small piano, which had been abandoned after the Royal Family got the Grand Piano to put in the ball room. Whatever, Sheik didn't really care, he liked the small piano.

He was playing the piano. He was playing nice, kind of slow, slightly eerie song that fit him perfectly. His hands, which were both callused and bandaged, didn't really look like they belonged playing a piano, but he played with ease.

He had been playing for what could have been hours, when he finally realized that someone was watching him. He turned around, and found Link's mother standing in the doorway.

"I didn't know you could play" she said.

Sheik smiled sheepishly. "Well yeah, I-I…" he trailed off. "How long were you standing there?"

"I only caught the ending of that last song." She sighed. "I shouldn't even be here. If anyone caught me well… actually, I don't know what they would do. It's not like they could throw me out, this still technically is my home."

"You lived in the Castle?" Sheik asked.

"Yeah, I did. Of course I did. I was… well… I was the princess of Hyrule. Still technically am, I think."

"So that means you're Zelda's aunt."

"Yup."

"Does Link know?"

Alice sighed, and sat down in a chair that was in the corner. "No, I haven't gotten around to telling him."

Sheik laughed, and then remembered something. "You might want to tell him soon. I think he's got a crush on Zelda."

Alice groaned. "I need to knock that idea out of his head quick."

"So why'd you come here in the first place?" Sheik asked. "I doubt you came just to talk to me."

"No, I actually came back to… well… play a bit of piano." She looked down at the floor, as if embarrassed.

Sheik stood up. "Go ahead. I don't mind."

Alice looked up at him and met a pair of ruby red eyes. She smiled slightly, and went over to the piano. "I haven't played in a few years, mind you, so no complaining if it's terrible."

"Alright"

Sighing, and wondering why the heck she was getting herself into this, Link's mother slowly placed her fingers on the keys. She played a few feeble notes, but it was always hard to start at first. Especially when you knew someone was listening. But within a few seconds she had picked a song and began playing.

The song was slow, and sounded as if it should have been happy. But the way Alice played it; it had more of a somber feel to it. Even as the song hit one of its more complex parts, it still sounded… sad.

Immediately Sheik felt as if he were intruding on something very important. He decided it would be best if he just left, and so that he did.

* * *

okay, piano scene is a bit random, but I remember mentioning somewhere earlier in the story that Sheik could play piano, so I figured I'd go ahead and elaborate on that. Also, we get to learn a bit more about Link's mother.

oh, and in case you're wondering, Alice was playing Pachelbel Canon in D


	17. Chapter 17

exxtreme appologies that it took so long to update, but I had to get these three chapters all done before I could live with myself. You'll see why when you read the next chapter, though you might pick it up in this one

this chapter takes place a day after the previous one, just to let you know

* * *

Link got up at the usual time, but he was set to go to the temple to find this fire charm as Sheik had shown him. Again Sheik insisted that Link would have to go by himself, though Link was questioning why exactly. It seemed Sheik had more on his mind than Link just being a proper hero.

Breakfast was probably the most interesting thing of his day today. Why? Well because of the extremely odd and random and informative conversation he and his mother had.

"Link," his mother said as he sat down at the table. "I need to ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a crush on the princess?"

Of all questions she could have asked, Link was definitely not expecting this one. "No" he said quickly.

"You do!" his mother groaned, sitting down herself. Link started to protest, but his mother stopped him. "Don't deny it. I can hear it in your voice. Plus, you answered 'no' way too quickly. But that's beside the point. You need to knock that idea out of your head."

"What for?" Link asked. "This isn't because she's a princess and I'm not royalty of any kind is it?"

"If only life were that simple!" his mother laughed. "But no, it has nothing to do with that. You see, there's something you need to know about your heritage."

"Is this about dad?" Link couldn't keep the eagerness out of his voice.

"No, this is about me."

Link frowned. What did his mother have to hide about her family?

"I'm the Queen's sister."

A lot, apparently. Link's jaw dropped. "No way" he said.

"The Queen's your aunt, Zelda's your cousin. Now do you understand? It would be extremely awkward if you were to marry your cousin."

"Yeah…"

"Good." Link's mother stood up and tossed him a bag. "For your trip," she explained, noting the confused look on his face. Link nodded, understanding. Though he wasn't quite sure what Sheik had said that made his mother not worry about this. She had forbidden Link to go anywhere near the forest when he was younger.

Well, whatever it was, he wasn't complaining. It was about time he got to see the world for himself. Definitely time.

Thanking his mother and telling her goodbye, Link headed off to the ranch to go get his horse. Maria didn't bother him much when he got there, but did seem like she was doing her best not to laugh while he was getting his horse.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing, nothing" she said, and then walked away.

Link did a quick check to make sure his clothes were clean and that his hair wasn't out of place or anything. Who knew what Maria could be laughing about? Without use of a mirror, Link certainly didn't.

Determined to get out of the ranch as soon as possible, Link saddled up his horse and left.

* * *

The ride to the forest could take two days apparently, and for Link, it did. He stopped only once to eat and take a short nap, though the short nap lasted longer than he would have liked. He still made it to the forest before sundown the next day.

Finding a nice place to leave his horse, Link set off into the forest alone.

Having never been to the forest before, he spent plenty of time just staring at its wonders (which were few). Fairies hung around all the springs he came across. Most were nice, but there were a few pesky ones that told him to go away.

Link stuck his tongue out at the offending fairies and walked off.

Within no time though, Link found that he was lost.

"Will you play with me?" a voice said suddenly from the trees. Link jumped and pulled out his sword. There was a childish laugh and something emerged.

Link smiled at the sight of it and lowered his sword. It was just a kid. Well, sort of. The kid seemed like it was made more out of forest than out of flesh. Noticing that it meant no harm, he sheathed his sword.

"I'm a Skull Kid!" it said. "You can call me Bob!"

"Okay…" Link said slowly. "I'm Link"

"I shall call you Boy in Green!" the Skull Kid said happily.

"No, my name is Link"

"Boy in Green"

Link sighed. "Fine then, Bob. Can you-"

"Will you play with me?" the Skull Kid asked again.

Link frowned. This was going to go nowhere if he kept this up. "Listen, Bob, can you show me to the temple here? I need to get something from there, when I'm done I'll play with you, okay?"

"Okay! Follow me!"

The Skull Kid took off, forcing Link to run after him. It led him through what felt like miles of endless forest. Eventually they did end up at the temple. Link thanked the Skull Kid and headed inside.

* * *

Finding the Fire Charm didn't take long, though it was a harder task than Link thought it would have been. He exited the temple, charm in hand, only to find the Skull Kid waiting for him.

"Hello Boy in Green!" it said happily. "Can you play now?"

There was no way out of this. Link _had_ promised. "Yeah"

"Great!" the Skull Kid ran off. "Bet you can't catch me!"

Link frowned and followed after it. It led him through miles of forest again. Link was so caught up in the chase he didn't notice when they passed a large chasm. He also didn't notice that the Skull Kid was taking him through numerous amounts of secret passages that shouldn't be accessible to Hylians.

"Hurry up!" the Skull Kid called, anger creeping into its otherwise happy voice. "I want to show you something!"

Link had stopped, only because he had nearly tripped over Sheik, who was asleep. Confused about why Sheik would be here, Link stayed put.

"What's taking so long!" the Skull Kid asked, backtracking to find Link. "There's something I want to show you!"

Link ignored the Skull Kid. His mind was still wondering. It was odd to see Sheik asleep anywhere. But Link put the matter aside. For all he knew, Sheik could be on a secret mission or something. It would be best if he just let him be.

But something nagged at the back of his mind, and after a moment, Link turned to the Skull Kid. "Hey Bob," he said. "Where's that thing you wanted to show me?"

"In the ruins up ahead!" the Skull Kid replied.

"Would you mind waiting here with my friend and let him know that I'm looking through the ruins when he wakes up?"

"Okay!" the Skull Kid said, and found a rock to sit on.

"Thanks," Link told it, and then continued his search through the ruins. They brought back memories for some reason, even though he knew he had never been here in his life. He had no idea why it was so important that he found something here. But he knew that it was important.

Whatever it was, it was calling to him.

And if he didn't find it, the voice would drive him mad.

Because memories were coming back to him, he could see the ruins in which he now stood as a temple in full splendor, and then again as ruins that weren't as ruined as they were now. He had no idea where they were coming from, but they were urging him on. Telling him to find the thing that was calling to him.

Because whatever it was, it was important.


	18. Chapter 18

this is just the previous chapter, retold from Sheik's point of view. and don't ask about the dream, it was just a random idea me and a friend came up with and I wanted to put it in (thank's again Troll Doll!)

* * *

Sheik was having a terrible dream. Well, not _terrible_ exactly, but a bit… odd. And definitely a bit scary. In said dream, he and Link were walking through the forest. Sheik did have knowledge that they were near the Master Sword, but didn't really care.

_He came across an odd looking stone, and bent over to pick it up. When he straightened, he found that Link had gone. Somehow knowing where he would be, Sheik took off at a dead run for the resting place of the Master Sword._

_"Whatever you do," Sheik said, entering the clearing. "Don't touch that sword!"_

_Link looked at him, devilish grin on his face. "What? Do you mean this sword?" Link gestured at the Master Sword. Sheik nodded. "Okay then!" Link said, and then promptly put his hand on the hilt of the sword._

_Link then realized why he shouldn't have touched the sword. "Oh," he muttered, before falling to the ground._

Sheik woke up, heart pounding. "Well then…" he said to himself. "I best make sure _that _doesn't happen." He got out of bed and got the things that would be necessary if he were to beat Link to the forest. That included: a weapon, supplies, and a horse.

The weapon and supplies were easy, it was the horse that raised problems. It was easy for him to just go to the ranch and borrow one, but doing so would mean running into Maria, and that wasn't something he really wanted to do today.

But he really didn't have a choice did he? It was either be bothered by Maria or be killed by Link's mother because something happened to her son. Sheik definitely didn't want to be responsible for that. With no other choice, he headed to the ranch.

"Has Link been by?" Sheik asked as soon as Maria came out to talk to him.

She shook her head.

"Good" Sheik said. "I need to borrow a horse."

"What for? And why is the fact that Link hasn't been here good?"

"I need to beat him somewhere. If he gets there first, the results could be deadly. For him and for me."

"Of course!" Maria laughed, rolling her eyes. "Boys, you get into the strangest things! Your racing him aren't you? I get it totally, my brothers used to do it all the time before they moved. How high are you two betting?"

Sheik started to explain to Maria that they _weren't_ racing or betting on anything, but then paused. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea that she thought that. It would certainly be easier than trying to talk her out of the idea. Though, then he'd be lying to her and due to recent experiences Sheik wasn't too crazy about lying to anyone.

"I get all the rupees he has and a week with his sword if I win" Sheik said, pulling the idea out of thin air. "He gets fifty rupees and a look through the Sheikah training grounds if he wins."

"Wow, that is pretty high." Maria went over to a grey horse and led it out of the stable. "Here's the fastest horse we have. Do you need anything else?"

Sheik took the reins of the horse and hopped on. "Yeah, if Link asks, I was never here. Got it?"

"You bet!" Maria said happily. "I won't tell him a thing!"

"Thanks!" Sheik called as he rode out of the ranch. Now Link wouldn't be worried about why he was trying to keep him away from the Master Sword. If Link knew that Sheik was trying protect him from something that would seem completely harmless, he would start asking questions. And that was the last thing Sheik wanted at the moment.

* * *

The ride was a long one, Sheik made it to the forest late at night. Link was probably still miles behind him. He wouldn't be here until at least tomorrow afternoon. Satisfied that he had made good time, Sheik decided it would be a good idea to rest.

He awoke early the next morning. Even if he had made it to the forest in record time, he still had to get _through_ the forest and find the location of the Master Sword so he could keep Link away from it. The latter wasn't much of a problem though. He knew where the Master Sword _was_, getting to it was another story.

Which was good, because maybe that would mean Link would stay away from it without Sheik's interference. Well, one could hope anyways.

Leaving his horse at a clearing with a pond and plenty of grass, Sheik went the rest of the way on his own. Even if he had brought the horse, he would have had to abandon it. There was a large pit between him and his destination, with only a fallen log as a bridge across.

_More obstacles,_ Sheik thought smugly. _Maybe this would keep him away._

It was highly doubted; a hero's interest could be sparked by just about anything. 'Dangerous obstacles' was definitely on the top three of that list. Even if Link _did_ stay away from the Master Sword, his memories could be triggered before he even neared it. Who knew what obstacles heroes of the past had to face to get the sword.

Eventually Sheik did manage to reach the resting place of the Sword. The ruins of the old Temple of Time. It had been rebuilt after originally being destroyed, but in a different area. And even that Temple lay to waste. Eventually the Sword was just moved back to its original spot.

Sheik decided he would wait near the entrance of the Temple, so that he would know when Link was coming if he did. There was only one entrance, but a million ways to reach the Sword once past it. This would definitely be a good place to wait.

If he had to, Sheik had the provisions to wait here just over a week. Zelda would send word out when Link reached home so that Sheik wasn't just sitting around in the forest for days when Link was out of harm's way.

Surprised to find that it was already nightfall, Sheik decided it would be a good idea to sleep. The only reason Link would be around here now would be because he got lost on his way to the temple that contained the fire charm he was looking for. Even if that was extremely likely, a warrior did need his rest.

* * *

Something wasn't right. The smell of distress was thick in the air. It was his third day in the forest, and Sheik had finally run into trouble. It was expected.

The odd thing was though, it wasn't the fact something was wrong that woke him. No, it was the fact that a Skull Kid was playing his horn on a nearby rock that woke him. But it was a good thing the Skull Kid had woken him, otherwise he might have run into larger issues.

The Skull Kid noticed that Sheik had awoken, and immediately stopped his playing. "Hello!" it said happily. "I'm a friend! I won't hurt you! I'm a friend of your friend, Boy in Green."

Sheik got to his feet, extremely worried. "Link? Has he been through here?"

The Skull Kid nodded. "He asked me to wait here until you awoke so that I could tell you he went ahead to explore the Temple ruins. He also wanted to know why you were here. He shouldn't be far; you can catch him if you want!"

"Yeah, great, thanks." Sheik wasted no time talking to the Skull Kid. Link was inside the ruins, and that wasn't good. How the heck could he have not been awoken when Link went by? Link wasn't exactly great at stealth. Was he just really that deep of a sleeper?

Sheik cast these thoughts aside. It didn't matter that he hadn't noted the issue before it arose. All that mattered was that he solved it before he and Link both were in a mass of trouble.

Navigating the ruins wasn't easy though. If Sheik had thought getting here was bad, compared to what he saw now, bad was an understatement. The path getting here was just dangerous. The ruins themselves were filled with left over traps and puzzles from when the Temple was in its full glory.

That said, Sheik did manage to get to the Master Sword with about the same record time he used getting to the forest. But there was one problem.

Link was already there.

And he had just pulled the Master Sword.


	19. Chapter 19

At first, Sheik just wanted to scream and scold Link. How could he have been such an idiot? Going and pulling the sword! But then again, it wasn't like what Sheik did was much better. Sleeping! Sleeping as Link just waltzed by! He was the real idiot.

A million things to say were forming on his tongue, most of them unkind, but then something made Sheik stop. Link was on his knees and clutching his head in pain. The sword lay on the ground abandoned.

One thing became clear to Sheik. He had to get Link out of there.

He ran over.

Link seemed to be in terrible pain, and there was no way that he was walking out of here. Sheik would have to carry him. But there was one thing he needed to do first.

Sheik grabbed the Master Sword to put it back where it belonged, but immediately dropped it. The thing had shocked him. It was surging with power, trying to undo the spell that had been placed on Link's mind.

Not willing to give up, Sheik picked the sword up again. Ignoring the pain that was going through his arm, he managed to place it back in its resting place. As soon as it was there, the spell cut off, and Link's pain seemed to die down. He remained unconscious.

Sighing at the task that lay ahead of him, Sheik picked Link up and tossed him over his shoulder. He was surprised by the weight though. Even if Link was a year younger than him, he had to weigh as much as he did.

Ignoring that, Sheik made his way out of the ruins. The Skull Kid had left.

_Pity,_ Sheik thought, _maybe it knew an easier way out of here._

Even if it did, Sheik wasn't going to find out.

* * *

How Sheik managed to get Link out of the forest was unclear, but what he did after that was easy. Using both of their horses, the trip across Hyrule field was a piece of cake. He made it back to civilization with Link by sunrise the next day.

He didn't bother to return the horses, even though they caused an uproar as he went through Castle Town. When he reached the Castle Gates, he didn't bother to worry about any of the guards. He just went right on past. Surprisingly, they let him.

"I need to speak to Princess Zelda" Sheik told one of the guards that refused to let him into the Castle. "This is urgent."

"Urgent how, exactly?" the guard sneered.

Sheik dismounted his horse and pulled Link off the other one. "Does this answer your question?" he hissed. The guard's eyes widened. He let Sheik pass.

He didn't get far into the Castle when Zelda found him.

"Sheik!" she called, sounding a bit angry. "You're causing an uproar! What's the deal?" She then noticed that he was dragging the still unconscious Link. "What happened?"

"He pulled the Master Sword" Sheik replied bitterly.

"You said you could keep him away from it!"

"He had a Skull Kid's help, he must have snuck past." It wasn't a total lie. But if anyone knew the truth that he had _slept_ while Link walked by he would be the laughingstock of Sheikah kind. "Just be glad I found him alive."

"Come on, I know where there's a spare bed." Zelda turned and started heading up the stairs. Sheik made a face and followed.

"You haven't told his mother, have you?" Zelda asked, opening a door.

Inside the room there was a single bed and a few chairs.

"Of course I haven't. She'd kill me!" Sheik said. He set Link down on the bed and turned to look at Zelda. "We should probably tell her though, shouldn't we?"

Zelda nodded. "I'll go get my mom, you go get his."

"What about him?" Sheik glanced at Link, who was still unconscious.

"Leave him, he'll be fine." Zelda left the room.

Sheik sighed, and went to go find Link's mother.

* * *

It was raining. That just added to the heap of bad feelings Link's mother had at the time. The rain was pounding on the windows, and Alice could tell it was one really big storm out here. Thunder rumbled in the sky and lightning would flash randomly.

_I sure hope Link's alright…_

Someone was at the door. Alice frowned, no one should be outside in a storm like this. She went to go get the door and let the poor soul inside. She wasn't expecting Sheik though. The grim look on his face wasn't good either.

"What's wrong? Where's Link?"

"At the Castle" Sheik replied.

"Is he alright?"

Sheik just shook his head.

"Is he dead?"

"No, he's not dead. But he… well…" Sheik took a deep breath and mumbled: "He pulled the Master Sword."

"He did what!"

"Please don't kill me."

Link's mother laughed. Was that all Sheik was worried about? Then again, Link couldn't be okay, otherwise he wouldn't be here. "Do you need me at the Castle?" she asked. Sheik nodded.

Alice grabbed her cloak. "Let's go then," she said, "you can explain what happened on the way there."

They were out of Kakariko before Sheik started talking. He explained how he went to the forest to head Link off, and how he waited at the entrance to the ruins of the Temple of Time to make sure he could stop Link before he even got close to the sword. Sheepishly, he explained how Link must have snuck past him while he was sleeping.

Sheik then told her about the Skull Kid waking him up, and how he rushed to go stop Link before he did any damage. He explained how long it took him to find the place where the Master Sword rested, and how he couldn't stop Link in time. He then explained how he dragged the unconscious Link across Hyrule to the Castle.

"So, you aren't going to kill me?" Sheik asked when he had finished.

"Course not! You tried your hardest, and I get that. And even if I was mad at you, I think you made up for your mistake by crossing Hyrule with my son on your back. That's some determination I haven't seen in years."

"Thanks"

"I should be the one thanking you. You might have saved his life."

Sheik laughed half-heartedly. "Let's see how he's doing before we decide on that."

Link's mother nodded. "Good idea."


	20. Chapter 20

and things take a darker turn for our hero

* * *

The four of them (Sheik, Zelda, Link's mother, and the Queen) sat in the room where Link lay, discussing the issue. Sheik had to tell and retell what had happen quite a few times before everyone came to understand _exactly_ what had happened.

"The question is; will he be alright?" Zelda asked the entire room.

"Depends on how many memories were reawakened" Link's mother said. "Hopefully it wasn't a lot, considering Sheik got him away from the blasted sword pretty quick."

"Can you tell?" the Queen asked, looking at Link's mother expectantly.

"Give me a second." Link's mother put a hand on her son's forehead. After a few minutes of deep concentration she took her hand away. "As far as I can tell, he doesn't have much more than previous hero's memories. He'll be fine if it's only that. He might have some issues _sorting_ these memories once he wakes up and decipher which ones are his and which ones aren't."

"In other words, he'll be fine" Sheik said.

"For the most part, yes."

"Will he be able to fight the evil that will threaten us?" the Queen asked

"For all we know, this might give him a better reason to fight it." Link's mother gave them an 'I don't know' gesture. "Just depends on who or what shows up."

They all sat there in silence for a while, all thinking. After a while, Sheik asked: "How bad will he be when he wakes up?"

"What do you mean?" Link's mother asked, turning to look at the not so young Sheikah warrior.

"Delusional, in denial, driven insane, muttering random things, hallucinations," Sheik named a few things. "If you've got another person's memories inside your own head, don't you think you'd be a bit out of it? What do you think he'll be like when he wakes up?"

Link's mother sighed and took a second to think about that. "At worst, he'll think he is that hero and get confused when everything doesn't match up to what he remembers. At best, he'll have no problem at all." After a second of thinking she added: "we best keep an eye on him though."

"I've got nothing to do" Sheik said, "I can stick around."

Zelda laughed. "I've still got to find Link a proper weapon. It's not like he can do much with only the Light Arrows." She turned to look at Link's mother. "Can't he just use the Master Sword now? He's already pulled the dang thing."

"No! If he pulls it again it will just start the process all over again and he'll unlock even more memories. He's already got two people inside his head, he doesn't need twenty. It would be best if we just leave that sword alone." Alice took a few breaths, and then said: "I wouldn't mind helping you look for a weapon though."

"I'd love to get some help" Zelda said, grinning.

"Well, now that's all said and done," the Queen stood up. "I've got other things I need to do." She left the room.

After a minute of silence, Alice turned to Zelda. "Research?"

Zelda nodded.

The two of them left.

Sheik looked over at Link, who was still unconscious.

"I guess it's just you and me then" he said, and laughed.

* * *

_Something didn't feel right. Something _wasn't_ right. He wasn't sure exactly what, but it definitely didn't do his brain any good. It felt as if there were a million things shoved in it. Half of those million things didn't belong to him either._

_Did they?_

_Now that he thought about it, those memories were… comforting somehow. But how? He didn't know. They were all… dark, and lonely, and, well, he didn't know. There was something wrong about them._

_They weren't his. They couldn't be. There was too much… bloodshed in them. That wasn't him. Sure, he killed a few monsters, but never at this high of a scale. They were being slaughtered left and right, left to die._

_"That's not me!" he yelled at the darkness that surrounded him. He would never give into that bloodlust. It was despicable! It was wrong!_

_Or was it? He couldn't place it, but something in him almost enjoyed it._

_He shook his head, he couldn't be thinking that way. That wasn't him. That wasn't him at all! That was…_

_The memories were strong. It _was_ him. Same hair, same eyes, same green tunic and hat, this person even had a sword that strongly resembled his._

_"This can't be me…" Link whispered. But it was. It was the same hero._

_No it wasn't. This person's eyes were different. Same blue, yeah, but there was something different about them, they looked as if they belonged to a wolf. _

_He had only seen a wolf once, up on Snow Peak. He had expected it to attack, but it didn't. It stopped a few feet away from him and stared. Well maybe not stared exactly, but the way it looked at him couldn't be described as anything else. After standing there for a few moments, it turned and walked away._

_This hero person, his eyes were so wolf-like it wasn't even funny. But Link soon knew why. This hero person actually was a wolf. Literally, he would _transform_ into one. The most notable times seemed to be when he entered the Twilight._

_Link paused. "How do I know that?"_

'_Because those memories are your memories.'_

_He had no idea who said it, but he immediately decided he didn't like that person._

"_They are not my memories!"_

'_But they are. You cannot deny it little boy. Those memories belong to a past incarnation of you. They are yours whether you like it or not.'_

"_Incarnation?" Link asked._

'_Silly child, you know so little' the voice replied. Link frowned. 'I shall enlighten you. Throughout Hyrule's past, there have been many dangers. Who else to rise to face these dangers than a hero? Of course, a new one would have to be born each time due to the fact these dangers liked to keep appearing lifetimes apart.'_

"_So what does that have anything to do with me?"_

'_Everything. You are a hero boy. Destiny chose this fate for you. Trust me, no one seemed too happy about it. Your parents were devastated. You're the reason they were separated.'_

"_That can't be true!" Link told this voice angrily._

'_But it is. It's not like it's your fault. It's no one's fault really. No one's fault but Destiny's.' The voice let out a menacing cackle._

"_Who are you?" Link asked. "How do you know so much?"_

_The voice merely kept laughing…_

* * *

Sheik looked up from his book and at Link. Something was wrong.

_Mental battle, _he concluded after a moment. _He'll have to fight this one on his own._

Sheik went back to his book.

* * *

_After a while, the voice finally stopped its laughter. 'I'm just a little piece of Darkness' it sneered. And then it left. How Link knew that it left was a mystery, but he knew it. The voice left him to conquer these memories._

_These memories that might just swallow him whole._


End file.
